Tales Of Zestiria II: Sins Of The Innocent

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Tales related! Namco owns the series, so please don't sue.

Claim: I do own the OCs and this fan-sequal of mine though but that's not the point. =P

Pairings: None

Genre: Adventure/Drama/Angst/Family/Friendship

IMPORTANT NOTE: This will contain spoilers, lots of them. This is a fan-based sequal after all, so please if you haven't completed the game yet and do not want to be spoiled, please go back now. If have completed the game, carry on ahead. =D

Note: When I was nearing the end of TOZ, this idea popped into my head, since it carries a lot Arthurian Legend themes, I felt that extend on that and imagine what a sequel would look like in my head. Okay, it might never happen, and if they did, it would be far different from this idea. Still, I'm charged and excited to write this! I hope you enjoy reading this first installement. :3

Summary: A thousand years have passed and gone since the final battle with Heldalf. The world has moved on and like most legends, they fade away and become lost in the sands of time. A new legend, however, was about to begin, when a certain Water Seraph rescues a lone babe and raises him while carrying out both his and his dear friend's dreams. This child is called Arthur, and this was his and a certain Shepherd's new story.

Prologue: Arthur & The Water Seraph

How long has it been now since the battle at Maotelus's shrine? Where he, his friends and his most precious friend of all, Sorey, made their final confrontation with the Lord of Calamity himself, Heldalf.

Even now, after all these hundreds of years, Sorey still slept, as Maotelus's new vessel, in order to purify the land of malevolence that was tainted by humanity's greed, selfishness and hatred, which in turn transformed Maotelus into a Hellion and brought about a chain of tragic events which resulted Heldalf's descent into becoming the Lord of Calamity, he had become a sacrifice and was reborn as a baby Water Seraph and Sorey...he had been forced into this world far too early and nearly died from being pre-maturely born.

The Water Seraph Mikleo, his fellow Seraphim and the Shepherd's squire and their good friend, Rose, long since passed from this world, knew the fate that awaited Sorey once he made his final choice. To act as Maotelus's new vessel and fall into a millennia-long sleep until the day came when the land was pure enough for Sorey to finally be awakened and freed from his duty.

And so, even though all their human friends have long since passed away and the world grew older around him and his Seraphim comrades and friends, Lailah, Edna and Zaveid, he would wait. He would keep waiting until the day Sorey returned to them.

He won't lie, it has been a very painful waiting game. Mikleo, of course understood and went along with Sorey's decision, as did everyone else was with them that day. But...even though Mikleo had steeled himself for the painful reality that awaited them, it still hurt. A lot.

They had been together for so long, practically inseparable, they shared the same dreams, the same love for ancient ruins and the stories of the past told upon the walls of those ruins. He had taken for granted their close bond, nothing could have prepared him for when Sorey carried out his final task as the Shepherd and the first time that Mikleo had felt so alone without Sorey's presence nearby.

It was like someone had amputated a part of himself when he first tasted the first few decades of existing without Sorey. He never knew just how much he would miss that stupid, naive yet pure-hearted human, who had literally saved the world from being consumed by malevolence. His most cherished friend whom had been abandoned and forgotten by not only time, but the world itself, save for Seraphim who were beside him.

It made Mikleo angry and frustrated at times how quick humans had forgotten about the sacrifice Sorey made to ensure the land would one day be purified and also relationships between humans and Seraphim hadn't taken the steps towards co-existence yet, not to mention the tensions between Rolance and Hyland rising up again, after the 1000 year old truce between the two countries, even the northern continent of Fayrule was acting up. Of course, it had been almost 1000 years, while that's still short for Seraphim, that was a long time for humans.

Mikleo only hoped that Sorey wouldn't be woken up in a time where a Shepherd would be needed once again. Mikleo didn't know if he could handle going through this waiting all over again if another Greater Seraph lord needed purification.

Hopefully, it would never come to that. To kill time until Sorey came back, Mikleo took it upon himself to carry out both his and Sorey's dreams of exploring all the ruins that the world had to offer. He longed for the days when he would explore Mt. Mabinogo with Sorey back when they were children. Damn it, he really misses him.

Mikleo's hair had grown longer during this time, he felt that it would remind him just how long he had existed. He was still very young in Seraph years, but even a thousand years can mature one's soul and he actually quite liked the look, so he tied it up into a ponytail so it would not get in the way when he fought with the remnants of Hellions, there was very few of them now thanks to the on-going purification process carried out by new shepherds and their squires. Still he had to still take care of the occasional normal beast or monster that would pop out.

He had been on-route to another hidden ruin that was rumoured to be about around outskirts of Elysia, almost touching the borders of Fayrule. The beautiful forest known as Myst Forest stretched out like a sea of trees, was tranquil and had been untouched by man or even Seraphim for centuries, the area was brimming with life.

He had never gone this far north of Elysia before, neither he or Sorey had even known about Fayrule until their fateful journey as Shepherd and Sub-Lord, where they overheard the mentioning of Northerners from the Earthen Historia that they gathered, which he now knew as Fayrulians.

He stopped suddenly still when he felt for a moment an aura that he had not felt since the Age of Chaos, the aura of one filled with malevolence. Out of instinct and reflexes, he ran through the forest, swiftly moving pass every tree that obstruct him, while making sure not to lose track on the one generating malevolence, while there was no need for him to be a sub-lord anymore, he kept his pact with Lailah, in case the worst scenario ever happened and a new Lord of Calamity was born. At least he still had the power to purify hellions, or at least the lower ranking ones, for any higher ranked Hellions they would need a Shepherd.

He came to a halt once more when he felt the malevolent aura vanish into thin air, did the hellion leave? Or did it just disguise itself? Nevertheless, he would have to keep his guard up to make sure not to be caught unaware. He looked around his surroundings trying to sense the menace, but however it seem to have fled from the area, thankfully.

Just as he was about walk away, he noticed something odd in the corner of his eye. A woman? Mikleo walked closer to investigate the body of whoever was lying in a pile of woodchips, dead leaves, and dirt. When he came up close to the person, he confirmed his suspicions about it being a woman, and from the look of her wounds, she had been dead for two or three hours.

Mikleo felt a pang of guilt and sadness, could he have prevented this death from happening if he had been here at the exact moment of her murder? It looks like it was a very deep wound made by a Hellion, must have been the one that he had sensed just a few moments ago. However, if the hellion had killed her hours ago, why did it linger until now?

Upon further investigation, based on the clothes she wore, she must have been a Shepherd! She had the customary garb of the Shepherd that was now stained in dry blood. She had pinkish-red hair that was also caked in dry blood as it seemed she had cracked her skull which caused her crown to bleed before her death. She had a sword in one of her hands, meaning that she had bravely fought back at whatever attacked her to her dying breath. He wondered who this girl was, she wasn't a Shepherd he was familiar with, perhaps Lailah would know?

That was when his hearing picked up something he never expected to hear out in the wilderness like this, the soft whimpers of a baby.

Standing up and following the source of the noise to what looked like a hole underneath a dead tree stump, the thick dead roots helped to keep whatever was on the verge of crying well-hidden from sight. This must have been why the Hellion had not left until now. Mikleo's presence must have scared it off, it was the only logical reason he could come up with given what evidence he had right now. He exhaled deeply before reaching his hands out to pick up the small bundle that was hiding under the tree stump through the same hole that he heard the whimpers from.

Once he had freed the bundle and held it in his arms, he confirmed that it was definitely a baby. He was no expert on estimating human years, but he had to guess the baby was roughly a month old, way too young to be left without a parent. The child owned big round sky blue eyes that screamed innocence, the small tuffs of hair gave away that his hair colour would sandy blonde.

The small baby had softened it's tiny cries as it looked straight at Mikleo's face, after a few moments in a staring contest, the baby then gurgled in delight, the poor thing was naively unaware that it was now an orphan, then it dawned on Mikleo, the child could see him! Does that mean the child has high levels of resonance? Mikleo couldn't tell for sure, the only one who would know would be once again Lailah.

It would seem the next course of action would be to head for Ladylake and ask the Prime Lord for answers. Besides, there was no way he was going to abandon this child here to die! That would go against everything he had been brought up to believe and respect.

There was nothing he could do for the dead female Shepherd, most likely the mother of the child, besides giving her a proper burial. However, he couldn't leave the child for too long without any kind of nourishment, the child was so young, it could die if neglected for too long. It was all too clear now that the mother had been fighting to protect her child, he would be damned before he let her sacrifice go to waste, not when it had been to give her child a chance to live.

With a heavy heart and even more guilt-ridden he left the area with the child in tow, leaving the mother where she was. He remembered the goats in Elysia, that would provide the baby with some kind of substance. He would need to gather enough for his trip back down to Ladylake.

It took two days to reach Ladylake, but thankfully the Elysia goat's milk was a success with the baby, Mikleo was kind of surprised of how well-behaved the baby was being, usually they were very loud and demanding at this stage, yet the child was very content with being carried by the Water Seraph and lightly tugging on the side bangs of his hair.

Once he arrived at Ladylake, he hurried over to the Sanctuary where he knew Lailah would be waiting. He was surprised to see Edna and Zaveid also there, at least he could explain to all three of them at once about his...discovery.

After an hour of explaining what transpired in Myst Forest and why he was now carrying a baby. He also found out that the child was also a he, as he discovered when he remembered infants needed to be changed every couple of hours. He was certainly learning things he never knew about humans before now.

"So...let me get this straight. You found this baby in the middle of the woods, belonging to a dead mother, who so happened to be wearing Shepherd clothing and killed by a Hellion. Yet you think the baby can see Seraphim so you brought him here all the way to Ladylake just to confirm it with Lailah?" Edna summarized in her deadpan tone.

"Yes. What did you expect me to do? Abandon him?" Mikleo gritted his teeth.

"No, that would be totally out of character for you Meebo. I just wanted to make sure I got the whole story." Edna smirked.

"So, Lailah, what's the verdict? Do ya think Mickey boy is right?" The wind Seraphim asked.

"Well...Mikleo is right, the child definitely has high levels of resonance, it would also explain why he had been so calm around us. Yet...something is odd about him."

"Odd?" All three of the Seraphim asked in union at Lailah's answer.

"Well...He is human, but not entirely human, he's half of something else too. I can't tell though, there's a powerful seal placed on him that prevents me from finding out more. Whoever placed this on him was an talented mage."

"You think it was another Seraphim who put it on him?" Zaveid pressed.

"Yes, whoever casted this protection seal on him, was a Seraphim of great power." Lailah nodded.

"His mother was a Shepherd, or at least from her clothes she appeared to be, so perhaps he got his resonance from her?" Mikleo wondered.

The bundle of joy in Mikleo's arms was sleeping contently, unaware that conversation about him.

"So Meebo, what are you going to do now? You've brought him to Ladylake and got your answers. Are you going to give him away to someone? Or take him to an Orphanage?" Edna questioned.

That was a good question...what was he going to do with him? Sure, he could hand him over to a human couple or to an Orphanage like Edna said. But...over the last few days travelling to Ladylake with him, he had gotten attached to the small infant, perhaps it was the solitude life he had been living since Sorey's absence that made him yearn for company. Wouldn't that be selfish of him though? He...didn't know what to do.

"Mikleo, you want to look after him don't you?" Lailah smiled softly.

Mikleo sharply raised his head up in shock and sighed as he looked away. "Was I that easy to read?"

"You are aware that taking care of a human is a lot of hard work, right? Seraphim aren't used to raising every orphaned human we come across." Edna said plainly. She didn't mean anything harsh by it, but it still sounded cold nonetheless.

"What Edna's saying kid, is that are you sure you want to do this? Once you decide, you can't just up and leave him if it gets too tough. I wouldnt be fair on the kid or you." Zaveid told him straight.

For once, Mikleo appreciated the blunt honesty Zaveid gave. The child taken this opportunity to wake up and spout out gibberish nonsense that could only be described as baby talk. His arms were outstretched towards Mikleo, without thinking Mikleo moved a lone finger closer to the baby to which he grasped hold of with both tiny hands then proceeded to nibble on the finger in his mouth. Mikleo blinked a few times, why did he do that? Was this how a parent would react? Mikleo could only imagine.

"If I was a normal Seraph, I'd probably agree. However, I'm not like other Seraphim, am I? Gramps raised both Sorey and I with all the love a person can give and we weren't his flesh and blood either. I would be the worst kind of Seraph if I just left him there and disgraced that memory. Besides, I have a feeling that I was meant to be where I was when I found this baby and his late mother." Mikleo simply answered.

"True, you were previously a human baby yourself, then refashioned as a Seraph." Zaveid shrugged with a big grin. "Sounds like to me, you've made your choice."

"Yeah." Mikleo simply nodded with a soft smile. Yes, he decided to raise this child. Just like how Gramps raised him and Sorey, he just hoped that he would be as good of a role model as their grandfather was.

"So, I guess this means we should be calling you Daddy Meebo now?" Edna teased.

Mikleo's eye twitched but he didn't rise up to the bait.

"Oh that's wonderful! We'll be sure to help out too, right Edna? Zaveid?" Lailah was overjoyed with the decision.

"Naturally, I'll teach him everything that he needs to kno-"

"Absolutely not." Mikleo shot down. "If anyone's doing the education around here, it's Lailah and I."

"What about me?" Edna glared.

"...I'll think about it." Mikleo glared back.

"Aw c'mon, at least give me at least some role model job!" Zaveid whined.

"Comic relief, probably." Edna suggested.

When Zaveid and Edna started a verbal contest with each other, to see who could get the last word, Lailah walked over and sat on the bench next to Mikleo.

"I think you'll make a great role model for him Mikleo. He seems so happy to be just around you."

"I hope so...I was thinking of calling him Arthur. I found that name stitched into the blanket so I thought that was the name his mother gave him. I wanted to keep her memory alive somehow." Mikleo nodded.

"Sounds perfect for him." Lailah clapped. "Is it okay if I hold him?"

Mikleo carefully moved the bundle into Lailah's arms, thankfully, the baby didn't seem to mind being with Lailah, although he did look upset that he wasn't in Mikleo's arms anymore. Once looking up at Lailah's face though, he smiled at her.

"Amazing to think that all humans start from something so small and innocent." Lailah looked sad, she was probably thinking about to the Shepherd Michael and all the other humans they had met who generated malevolence, whether it was by good intentions or evil ones. She would make sure that the baby she held right now would not make the same mistakes.

"I think Sorey would have really loved this idea too." Mikleo told her.

Lailah smiled warmly and nodded. "I agree, this seems like something he would really love to be a part of. I do have to wonder though, could it be the father was a Seraph?"

"Really? Is it possible for a human and Seraph to have a child together?" Mikleo was caught off-guard by Lailah's guess.

"This is just a theory though, I can't say it's the truth." Lailah smiled nervously. "However, yes, the desire between both of them is powerful enough, they can have children with each other. However, such children born from union like that are often met with scorn and malice from both sides, so they are very rare."

"...That's awful. Then if that woman was a Shepherd, and she fell in love with one of her Seraphim..."

"Uhhh...Oh my! What beautiful big blue eyes the baby has!" Lailah then spoke out randomly.

"Of course that would be under oath too." Mikleo rolled his eyes. "No matter, I think I can gather for myself the consequences. I feel really bad for both the child and mother, even if it is considered forbidden, they shouldn't have to suffer like that."

"We still don't know that for sure yet, I could be wrong for all I know. As long as the protection seal over Arthur remains, I can only just assume." Lailah shook her head.

"Well, regardless of what he is, my answer would remain the same. For now, we'll just raise him like any normal person, after all, he's still a living being in the end, he turns out to be Half-Seraph or whatever." Mikleo decided.

"Hehehe...You've really grown up, Mikleo." Lailah laughed.

"What? You mean I wasn't mature before?" Mikleo felt hurt.

"No, for a moment, you reminded me of Sorey. It just seemed like something he would say." Lailah giggled.

"Well, that's just who Sorey is." Mikleo smiled sadly. "I guess even he's rubbed off on me, or maybe it has always been there and I haven't noticed until Sorey wasn't around anymore."

"Mikleo..." Lailah looked with sympathy before handing the child, Arthur, back into Mikleo's arms, to which the baby giggled happily in delight.

"Don't worry Mikleo, we'll make sure he's raised right. Just remember, I'm Auntie Lailah~!" Lailah chimed.

"..." Mikleo sweat dropped, she was having way too much fun with the idea. "Seriously though, make sure Zaveid isn't left alone with the kid even for a moment, I shudder to think what kind of lessons he would teach him." Mikleo told her, which Lailah nodded in agreement.

He looked back to see Edna and Zaveid still bickering with each other. He softly smiled, yes, this would work, he didn't know why, but this boy was special somehow, he just didn't realize then just how special.

And there is the Prologue! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story. Sorry if this feels short, but I felt a prologue was important. I promise next chapter will be longer. :3

Please read and review and let me know what you think of the story.

Hopefully I'll be able to get next chapter up shortly. Next chapter coming up: Chapter 1: Return Of the Shepherd. Until then, Happy Reading everyone.

Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!