Tales of Legendia Fan Fiction

Swimming with Sandor

Disclaimer: Look, if I owned Tales of Legendia, this particular story, and all the others that came before and should come after wouldn't be fan fiction. It would be part of the real damn game. Therefore, because a equals b, I don't own Tales of Legendia. (sob)

A/N: This is the whole story of a certain incident slash memory in my other story, Don't you Dare and was requested by CrypticGirl via MSN Messenger. You don't have to read that story to get this one but in case you're curious, here's the incident that led to this:

Moses dared Jay to swim across the lake in front of their used-to-be camp alone for a few miles while they followed him in a boat and to his dismay he almost drowned if not for Moses carrying him, actually tying him down and gagging him until they reached the pier where he claimed to have saved his "ass".

Well, here goes the story! Please read and review, and no flaming! If you must tell me off, do it in a way that can actually help me or a.k.a. constructive criticism. Thanks and enjoy! NOTE: This is a oneshot and takes place after the game. Also note, I changed what really happened according to Moses' POV so expect a change in the story!

…

"Come on Senel! Just one lap! Tha's all I'm askin'! One little lap!"

Moses Sandor practically knelt down and begged a certain Senel Coolidge to go a lap against him in the lake that used to be their view back when he was still a bandit against their group. They had came there the earlier day for a camping trip that Norma and Shirley oh so politely 'demanded' for (especially for Norma; except she wasn't so…polite) and when Moses remembered how good Senel was at swimming, his rival instincts went berserk.

What better way to spend the day than to challenge your good buddy to a swimming contest?

"I said NO Moses! I'm too tired to swim right now and the current isn't very welcoming either." Senel answered sternly as he stretched his limbs from his comforting position on the reclining chair Will had brought. Moses' jaw dropped and he threw his hands up in the air. He really thought that pout would have caught him.

The real reason why Moses wanted Senel to swim with him wasn't because he wanted to prove once again that that he was better but because he had a little…prank up his sleeve. He was going to provoke Senel to swim faster once they were near a certain spot so he could pretend he was drowning and finally, Moses would save him and bring him back harmless towards the shore. It was supposed to be full-proof but nevertheless, he never thought Senel would back down on a challenge because of his laziness.

"You're gonna lose shape Senel! C'mon!" he pleaded once more. Senel sighed and stood up, fooling Moses into thinking he would agree. Moses gasped until Senel added more. "Once again, no."

The red head put on a defiant face and stomped up to the albino. "Why aren't you agreein'?! It's just a little race between friends!" he exclaimed, pointing out into the air with his fists. Senel shook his head and walked the opposite direction of the lake, Moses following him not far behind.

"You really wanna know why I wont agree?" asked Senel, without looking from behind. Moses nodded his head instantly.

"It's because of you. You're acting really strange and suspicious, as if you'd even go the lengths of tying me down and dragging me to swim with you! You're planning something and I'm not gonna be the one to fall for it, sorry."

Moses gaped and he screamed. "AW MAN! How'd you guess—! Oops…" Senel smirked in triumph. "And once again, sorry Moses!" He laughed and walked up to their main campsite, where Chloe and Shirley were cooking dinner.

Moses stared at his retreating figure and let out a frustrated gurgle. "So much for nothin…" he remarked to himself. He sighed for a few minutes and his face lit up in joy. "Well, Senel may have said no but there are still…others!" he let out and evil grin and stood up, pumping his arms up and down in excitement.

"Looks like the pranks' still up! YAHOO!" he shouted and ran towards the others, in hopes of getting at least one of them to join him. The only set back he didn't think of was what if Senel had warned them? Oh well…poor Moses then.

…

"Then he just kept…begging me practically, to take a swim with him; it was really weird."

Will, Senel, Chloe, Shirley and Norma were all huddled together near the bon fire as Senel dictated the story of how Moses almost forced him to go swimming with him. Chloe wiped the tears from her eyes and replied to his story. "That's Moses for you I suppose!" Shirley and Will nodded.

"I mean, what kind of idiot would fall for that trick anyway?" Norma said while munching on a marshmallow. "I'm just lucky I caught on to what he was trying to do." Senel added as he grabbed a twig, cleaned it and proceeded to roast a marshmallow on the open flames. "I guess Moses really wont stop till he proves to us that he's the best at everything." Will said, following Senel and Norma's example and bit the soft sweet.

"But I wonder who he's going to try and prank next?" Shirley asked quietly, wiping her hands on a tissue. Chloe and Norma sighed and looked at each other. "Who else?" Norma answered idly. "Indeed. It should be Jay, and I'm willing to bet this marshmallow bag he'd agree. You know how those two are ends meet when it comes to challenges!"

Will sighed and nodded solemnly. "I second the motion…I just hope they don't get into too much trouble today! This is our last night here in the forest; wouldn't it be nice for some peace and quiet?" Norma giggled and put two of the white pillows into her mouth, chewing. "Wow Teach! I never knew you felt so old!" she tried to say, forcing the marshmallows down her mouth with her tongue. Unfortunately, she had swallowed them all in time for her to say the word old and she got quite a huge bump on her head in the process.

Meanwhile…

Jay sighed in content, as he leaned back further from his slump while opening his amethyst eyes to the view around him. He sat up in a tree branch, feeling the cool air of the nearing sundown and immersing himself in the atmosphere of the place. The plants rustled gently in the wind and made a calming sound; he took his prized dagger out of his pockets and placed it beside him, fearing and hearing nothing as of the moment. The spur of the moment would actually allow the little spy to jump up and down screaming but that was a God-forbidden moment.

It wasn't long until his peace was ruined by a certain bandit leader who screamed his name from below.

"YO JAY!"

Jay banged his head slightly on the bark of the tree, closing his eyes. "Stupid bandit…" he whispered to himself, forcing his body not to look down. I wont ruin the moment…I wont ruin the moment…I wont…I wont…I wont…

"JAY! COME DOWN HERE FOR A SEC WOULD YA!" he screamed louder, obviously grinning with glee. Jay growled to himself and grabbed his dagger, shoving it in his pocket furiously. He clenched his teeth and rapidly jumped down from his secluded spot, glaring holes in the bandit leader, annoyance evident on his pale features.

"What?" he rumbled as he tried desperately to fight back his temper. Ever since the other day, Moses had been bugging him to do some crazy things in the forest, tempting the curious mind of the spy to actually partake in some (involving berry tasting, temperature control and strangely enough, monster cycles). He was getting, as the French would say, le annoyed.

"Just wanna ask ya somethin'!" he replied happily. Jay twitched at his tone and crossed his arms. "This had better be good idiot…" he coldly answered back. Moses grinned wider.

Why are you smiling like that? Jay thought, seemingly unfazed by his strange behavior. "Well…are you up for some swimmin'?" he asked rather quickly. Finally! Moses had dragged someone to his prank, and not just anyone, it was Jay the Unseen, the most renowned information dealer in the Legacy and his friend and comrade. If he could pull this off without any worry, people would be dealing in the bets!

"Well don' you think its time for ya to get some exercis—!"

"No."

Moses blinked, laughed and tried again. Just a minor setback.

"Well ya didn't let me finis—!"

"No."

Moses blinked again. "Okay…this isn't goin' so well…" he said. Jay nodded in agreement and put his hands back into his pockets. "Finally the stupid bandit said something worthwhile! I'm going back now."

Before Jay could walk back to the camp, an eager Moses grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back with a quick and forceful tug. Before Jay could protest, Moses whispered huskily in his ear while grinning; "How about a little swim bro? Won't take long!"

Jay's eye twitched as he angrily tried to get out of Moses' grasp. "I said NO stupid bandit! Get off me now!" he screamed. He kicked and punched and finally, after biting his arm (causing Moses to…curse something horrible in languages not even known to mankind), was released from his grip.

"Are you going insane or something?" he hissed. He dusted himself off as Moses continued to jump around, soothing his arm. "Swimming? With you? At this time of day? What have you got under your non-existent sleeves?" he asked nonchalantly. Moses stopped his moaning in pain and proceeded to smile widely. "I ain't plannin' nothin'!" he said as innocently as he could, drawing in more suspicion from the petite Jay.

"Oh I whole-heartedly believe you." He remarked sarcastically. Moses' eye twitched and he laughed maniacally, causing Jay to stare. "Have you really gone insane Moses?" he said.

"I'm just laughin' because of you! You're funny sometimes ya know lil' bro!"

He cocked an eyebrow. "And you're trying but desperately failing to compliment me; how ingenious." Moses stopped laughing and sighed, sitting down hard on the ground. "I give up! I guess no one's gonna go swimmin' with me anyhow…" Jay nodded. "That's right. You finally caught up to the idea."

Moses sighed again but when Jay turned to look at him, somehow, he felt…pity. "I've been tryin' to go swimmin' all day long! I can't believe my rotten luck…" he sighed again. Jay's body loosened at the sight of Moses, pouting and sighing. He thought about it, what harm could a little swim do? He shivered at the possibilities. But still, Moses did look desperate. Maybe this could be the harmless way of Jay thanking Moses for all he's done?

"M-Moses…?" he stammered to say. He coughed when Moses looked at him. "Well. I guess if you're that desperate…" Moses' eyes widened. Was Jay falling for the old 'feel my pain' trick? He wanted to rub that moment in but stayed quiet and grinned inside. Jay looked away and coughed again. This would have never worked on that bum Senel!

"One lap." Jay said in a dangerously low voice. "That's all and I'm going back to the campsite."

Moses jumped for joy and shouted happily. "YAHOOOOOO!!!" Jay covered his ears mockingly and replied harshly. "You say one word, one single word, I will hunt you down, do you hear me you stupid bandit?" he narrowed his eyes to slits. Moses cackled inside. I promise!

"You got my word!" he mockingly saluted and lead Jay to the lake. Jay eyed him with suspicion and sighed. How in the world did he get this soft?

Unbeknownst to Jay, Moses had been planning much more than just an innocent little swim. Moses followed Jay behind a few feet away and rubbed his hands together in wicked delight. I can't believe he broke off that easily! Oh man, this IS my lucky day after all! He thought, smiling widely at himself. Jay sighed to himself and a look of distress spread upon his face. "This isn't gonna be good…"

After a silent walk to the edge of the lake, (where a very oh so very suspicious boat sat as well) Jay made a conversation before Moses could finish warming up. "Why do you want to swim?" he asked.

Moses blinked twice before he laughed. "Oh! Ahaha! Well!" he started. I better not look like I'm too excited or else he'll find out like Senel did! Jay raised an eyebrow. "I dunno! I guess I jus' needed the exercise! I haven't…been aroun' this place for a long time and part of me really wanted to reminisce on me and my boys' adventures in the lake!" That was perfect! He'd never suspect a thing now!

Jay looked away and sighed, taking off his shoes. "Well let's get this over with. I'm getting tired of your babbling." Moses grinned and approached him, slinging his arm lazily around his shoulders. "Am I seeing a different side of you here Jay?" he smirked.

Jay blushed a deep red and pushed his hand violently away. "W-What are you t-talking about idiot bandit?!" Moses grinned wider than possible and ran up to the edge of the lake only to stop a few meters away. Without looking back at his younger companion, he slightly glanced back towards Jay and spoke. "Hey Jay! While we're at it, I dare ya to swim from here towards there! First one gets the entire dinner to themselves!"

He jumped into the water and swam.

Jay blinked and let out a frustrated screech. "What do you take me for?! A glutton?!" he screamed and shook his head. "I'm not doing this…I'm not…"

He took of his oversized shirt exposing his chest and ran up to the water, staring at it for a few minutes before snapping out of his trance and diving towards the red headed bandit. A few strokes away and he caught up to Moses, all the while repeating to himself how he wasn't doing this.

"I'm…(huff)…going…(huff)…to…(huff)…regret…(huff)…this…!" he tried to say, but failing as the water came colliding down his mouth instead. I should stop talking, I'm doing it already and I guess…the water isn't half bad…

"There's the idiot…" he exclaimed, fastening his speed when all of a sudden, Moses disappeared underneath the water, leaving Jay wide eyed and surprised. He swam to the middle of the lake and frantically looked around, treading as he did. "W-Where'd he go?" he whispered, searching beneath and above the water's surface.

Jay was actually feeling worried! This day just isn't his day...!

Meanwhile Once More…

Moses held his breath and swam deeper down into bottom of the lake, his eyes stinging from the water. He smiled when he saw the hole underneath the seaweed as he proceeded to remove it. Glancing above him, he could see Jay's feet supporting his weight, as he searched frantically for him. Grinning, he entered the hole and swam up.

Only he and his boys knew about the secret passageway deeply engraved in the gravel of the lake. When they first saw it, all of them were curious as to where it lead and soon, they discovered it lead back to the surface; the spot where the boat and some rope Jay saw earlier lay! Once Moses scampered as quietly as he could to the spot near the boat, he hid behind it and searched for a long piece of rope.

"Found it!" he whispered. The rope was connected somewhere underneath the hole he had came from and the spot where Jay was floating along on nearby. His trap was set perfectly! All he needed to do was to make sure he wouldn't get hurt in the process, after all, all he wanted was to prove to them that he was as smart and brave and courageous as they were! (As if defeating Nerifes, obtaining peace within the Orerines and Ferines races and earning Sacred Eres wasn't enough…)

Jay on the other hand, failed to notice Moses sneak back to the surface. He was too busy looking for him underwater and out, seeking if he had drowned or not. "MOSES!" he shouted. "MOSES! Where the hell are you?!" he swam around and held his breath, resurfacing afterwards for another heap of oxygen.

Jay never really thought he could care this much just because he was missing. He huffed and wiped the water out of his face, his hair damp and unruly. "Dammit you stupid bandit where'd you go?!"

Moses sustained a laugh as he stood quietly from his spot behind the boat and ran the opposite direction as the lake. All he needed now was an audience before Jay figured out he wasn't missing. "I can't believe Jay's fallin' for this!" he giggled. What surprised even more was the fact that Jay looked so helpless and worried for him.

…

"GUYS COME QUICK! JAY'S DROWNIN'!"

The rest of the Fun Bunch as Norma had accustomed to saying all turned to find Moses hysterically shouting and running, tripping and standing back up again. Senel sighed. "You got Jay to swim with you didn't you?" Moses pretended to nod with regret and worry when he tugged on his sleeve. "Well it didn't go the way I thought! He got caught in some strange seaweed and it won't let go! I can't get him out! Ya gotta help!"

As soon as Will heard this, his eyes widened in joy and he pulled everyone he could towards the lake, except Moses who for once, smartly ran out of his way. "This could be a new breed of monster! Come on everyone lets dissect that monst—I mean save Jay!"

"Aww man not again!" Norma whined.

As soon as Moses was alone, he laughed out loud and ran faster than lightning back to the shore. "I AM LOVIN' THIS DAY! YAHOO!" he screamed.

There were only about two problems that he hadn't considered up till the part where he was halfway there. What if they got there before him and saved Jay particularly figuring it was all a hoax? The other one was a little more difficult, what if he got there first BUT they arrived just in time for him to pull it off? He needed time!

He groaned to himself as he thought of the bad, bad consequences. "I gotta hurry…Jay won't be too happy if he found out…"

Speaking of Jay, the teenager found himself swimming back and forth from the lake to the shore than back to the spot where Moses had disappeared. He was trying to rationalize the entire situation but nothing of rational came on his mind. This wasn't like him, why was he so tactless to find Moses? "This isn't right…he couldn't just have disappeared like that!" He didn't know what to do since he was so caught up in his thoughts that he once again, failed to notice Moses sneak to his hiding spot back at the boat.

"Good! No one got here before I did and Jay's still there!" Moses actually felt sorry for him this time but he pushed them aside when he remembered the incident with the net and seafood as well as other…not so pleasurable incidents.

"It's payback time now bro!" he whispered menacingly but enough to be playful. What he was wondering was what was taking Will and the others to get there.

With Will…

"What a marvelous time for a monster, a regular monster to appear!" Will sarcastically remarked. As luck would have had it, a dozen egg-based monsters ambushed them while they all scampered to see the "rare monster" Will raved on about.

"Oh…right. Darn." Norma giggled mockingly. Shirley shook her head as she blocked one of the monsters. "We had better hurry because Jay might really get hurt!" Senel and Chloe nodded as they did one of their link attacks.

…

As soon as they were finished annihilating the monsters, they ran quickly up the shore of the lake, where Moses and Jay laid.

Before anything else could have happened, here's the real part of the story:

While they were busy fighting the monsters, Moses had decided to put his plan into action. He stood smugly and waved to Jay who seemed relieved then, damn right furious when he saw him.

Moses could have sworn he heard Jay growl from where he was treading when he heard Jay curse. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THERE?! I HAD THOUGHT YOU DROWNED! IS THIS SOME KIND OF PRANK YOU IDIOT BANDIT?!"

He laughed and grinned afterwards, seeing Jay swim angrily to the surface. He raised the rope he was holding before Jay could get any further, which stopped Jay dead in his tracks. "W-What is that?" he asked harshly, as if wanting to kill Moses dead on the spot. To think that he had almost ripped his hair from his scalp because he was that worried about him and he'd just reappear like that. Tsk.

Moses' grin spread to wider. "You'll find out soon!" he shouted as he tugged on the said rope, hard. Jay gulped when he felt weight underneath him. Before anything else could happen or any more curses in five different languages were exclaimed from the sixteen year olds' mouth, he was forcibly being dragged down into the water; he tried to fight back by swimming upwards creating the illusion: of drowning.

"You filthy—AGH!—bandit!—I'll—WAH!—get you for—UGH!—this!" he stammered as water came entering his mouth as he fought the waves in swallowing it. Moses wiped the tears from his eyes he obtained from laughing and winked. "Don' you worry there! I'll be comin' soon!" he coughed.

Jay wasn't really in the caring mood at that moment. All this time, he had disappeared to prank him. DAMN YOU! Was all he could think of, other than surviving the humiliation that was bound to come.

Moses ran up to the entrance of the shore of the lake as he purposely screamed. "JAY! DON'T WORRY! I'LL SAVE YOU!"

So that was his plan. Feign Jay's drowning so he could be the hero of the damn day. Jay tried to growl but failed when the consistent tugging of the rope to pull him down became harder when he focused on something else other than resisting its force. Moses waited until he heard their reply ("We're coming Red!"). Convinced they would be coming to see the sight, he took of his sandals (he never took them off while swimming) and made a rustle of footsteps on the ground, enough to fool a simple minded person (or people) that there was trouble a brew.

Jay didn't see the commotion he was making or pretending to make, but instead tried to get his dagger when he remembered it was in his pockets of his shirt, the shirt he had taken off before getting in the water. "Fuc—!" he almost cursed until another cupful of water entered his mouth.

When Moses' audience was assembled, he valiantly offered himself to save Jay. "But Moses I swim better than you! I should go!" Senel considered, as did the others. "Yes he is right Sandor; it would be faster as well!" Chloe added.

Moses blocked them and for more effect, added a scowling face. "No! I should go guys! I-Its my fault entirely why this happened! I've got to go save family!" God I am GOOD at this!

Touched by his words, Senel and the others nodded in agreement. Like on cue as Moses had predicted, Shirley offered the boat near the shore for faster transportation. "Moses, use that boat over there! It'll be better than swimming and endangering both your sakes!" Moses looked at her pretending to be touched and nodded vigorously as if Jay really was drowning. "Thanks a lot Shirley!"

He laughed when he was farther away from them and got in the boat after hauling it to the water. "If things went accordin' to my way everytime, I would've gotten Sacred Eres way before I met these guys!" He scurried to Jay's spot rowing the oars, feigning hurry. "I'M COMIN' BRO!" he even screamed, adding more emphasis to the others on the shore.

Jay narrowed his eyes when he finally saw Moses reach him, peering out of the edge of the boat. "I'll—GAH!—get you!" he said again, venom in every word he said. Moses tsked and got one of his spears from his back, certain no one back at shore got a clear view of what they were doing. "Now now Jay! If you wanna get out, you gotta play by my rules!" he smirked. Jay struggled to drag him down but Moses pulled out just in time and he laughed again.

"Not a good idea to the guy who's gonna save yah now is it?" he smirked again.

"Who says—WAI!—I need—AH!—SAVING?!" he tried to say properly, or rather, scream. Moses cackled evilly and thrust his spear into the water, twirling the rope from it provoking it to break. "You've got to relax a little Jay or I won't be able to save you!" he held back another wave of laughter. Jay tried to bite him in frustration but he carefully dodged each one. "Uh uh! Stay still now!" he mocked.

"You're—AGH!—going—to—pay!" Jay hissed dangerously. What Moses didn't expect was Jay actually fighting back. He did a quick head butt on Moses' cranium causing him to fall back to the boat with a rather loud thump. This action also caused Moses his momentum as the sharp spear he was carrying cut the rope free, freeing Jay in the process.

Before Jay could notice he could actually move now, Moses took prompt action and grabbed the rope from his side, jumping in the water to 'save' Jay. (After faking a scream of heroism to rescue or forlorn little adolescent)

Jay's eyes widened when Moses dragged him to the bottom. He was going to fight back when he inhaled water as he was being dragged down, causing his ears to pop and the air pressure in his nose to heighten, causing much more pain than expected. "OOF!" he gurgled underneath the water as he struggled to break free of Moses' grip. He was beaming with ecstasy as he tied Jay up with the rope, tightly making sure he wouldn't make too much of a fuss. Jay tried to break free but yet again, his thoughts of freedom were in vain when Moses finished the job and resurfaced back into the water and up the boat, gagging Jay as soon as he was up as well.

Jay shot him stares and glares of hatred and fury. If looks could kill then Moses would be one hell of a dead bandit. He scratched his nose and rubbed his hair, causing water droplets to fly off. "Well that wasn't so bad was it?" he laughed and quickly regained his composure when he saw the outlines of the group near the shore shouting if they were okay.

"WE'RE FINE! JAY'S JUST A LITTLE DIZZY!" he screamed back, grinning towards the spy. He shot him more death looks which seemed quite frightening, even for Moses. "Well! Time to get back home! And by the way…" he said as he rowed the boat.

"You lost the bet!"

…

Once in the shore, Moses towed Jay's body up his shoulders and set him down rather roughly on the ground, everyone wide eyed and staring like he was a mad man. Moses shouted rather smugly, "Well we're back! And I just saved Jay's ass! YAHOO! Dinner's up and comin'!"

All of them continued to stare at Jay, who apparently, was still rather pissed with Moses. Actually, pissed doesn't even begin to describe his feelings of utter hate.

Moses ran up proudly back to camp, leaving everyone to wonder and stare in amazement. After a hearty thirty minutes of silence, Norma finally spoke up, justifying the fact that Moses isn't good with strategies or plots of any kind without help.

"Uh…JJ?" she asked.

He mmphed in response.

"If you were drowning, then how come your tied and gagged with a sock?"

END