Author Note: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or anything that appears in this story. I'm writing this for pure self gratification because plunnies happened and it amused me to put into extensive words. I'm posting this for others to read because the one I'm writing it for can more easily access it from this website than trying to get it through email. Also, I'm really terrible about the names of things and places so if something isn't spelled right... deal with it *puts on sunglasses and ollies out*

Chapter 1

Heart in his throat, Aster turned away from Richter briefly to make sure his expression wasn't betraying how utterly sick he actually felt. Despite his bravado, Aqua's warnings that Ratatosk wouldn't be in a good mood weighed heavily on his mind and he shoved his sweaty palms down his white coat to dry them.

"This is the door," Aqua said, drawing his attention.

Aster looked away from the strange web-like structures in the distance to a portal that was eerily organic, reminding him of one of his biology exams.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Aqua asked, floating several feet above the floor, angled toward Richter, as she usually was.

He had to smile at that. It was adorable how the Centurion, a creature without an actual physical body, or true understanding of human feelings had fallen so madly in love with the half-elf. The best part of it was that neither seemed to have any clue how to proceed with the relationship. Not that Aster had much experience with romance either, but poor Richter was completely out of his depth. Setting his shoulders, Aster's grey gaze met Richter's green. The taller half-elf swallowed and nodded, his usually stoic expression cracking at the corners of his eyes to show that he too was terrified. In that moment, Aster knew he couldn't fool his friend with a mere smile and cocky wave of his hand.

Looking to Aqua, Aster nodded. "We've come this far."

Her expression pinched and she turned away, swimming to the closed door. Placing her hands upon it for a moment, she took a deep breath and let it out as the door cycled open. "He is awake within," she said.

"What? Not going to introduce us?" Aster asked and tossed his head to flick his bangs from his eyes. "Not that we need introduction." Striding forward, he passed her with a broad grin to let her know he was joking about having such an inflated sense of self importance. He knew exactly what he was. He knew he was an upstart kid who knew too much but not nearly enough of the right things. Aster knew he was 90% coward and 10% bullshit, but this needed doing and to turn away now would have everyone at Sybak laughing their asses off at both him and Richter after everything they had said to convince the director to let them go looking for the Centurions in the first place. The data Aster had collected and solid evidence, as well as first-hand testimonial from a Centurion itself would never be worth anything if the balance of mana was not restored.

His hands were shaking. His knees were shaking, he hid both best he could, keeping his head high as he walked down the long bridge towards a circular platform at the center of a room that glowed eerily red. It reminded him of when he closed his eyes and turned his face towards the sun and everything was crimson shot with blood veins. On the far side of the platform, beyond a monolithic tablet, were the rings of the gate to Niflheim, the world of demons and he thought he saw shapes of distorted faces pressing against an invisible barrier.

Shimmering light coalesced above the tablet.

"Who disturbs me?" a booming voice demanded as the light took shape, solidifying into a squirrel with three bushy tails perched atop the monolith.

Even though he knew he should have been more frightened, the Summon Spirit's fluffy form nearly made Aster burst out laughing. Quickly biting his lower lip to stop himself, he took a breath and firmly stood before the great being. "You're Ratatosk, Summon Spirit of the Giant Kharlan Tree, correct?" It helped that he could see Richter standing beside him, the half-elf's hands nervously clenching and releasing as his breath came in shaking pants through his nose.

The creature narrowed its eyes at them, leaning forward slightly. "Some have called me by that name."

"Ratatosk," Richter said, having found his voice, though Aster could hear the uncertain quaver, "the current balance of mana in the natural world is in a state of chaos. We believe your power is necessary to restore the correct balance." He lifted his hands beseechingly.

"Even if I adjust the balance of mana, the world will die without a tree to sustain it," Ratatosk said, its voice sounding reasonable though the Summon Spirit wasn't even looking at them anymore. Its gaze had drifted to the left.

Curious, Aster looked to see if there was something he needed to be aware of. Seeing nothing, he turned back to find Ratatosk staring directly at them again. "We have heard that a new tree has been born." He spoke quickly, noticing the Summon Spirit's attention beginning to waver again. "But as far as we can tell, the Summon Spirit of the new tree doesn't possess your power to control the flow of mana." He looked down briefly to catch his breath.

Ratatosk snorted a laugh. "So?"

Shocked, Aster looked up again. "So please! Please use your Centurions to restore the balance of mana!" He pressed his hand to his rapidly beating heart in disbelief. While he was finding it hard to read the Summon Spirit's expressions, he was absolutely sure that Ratatosk's decision had already been made but desperation kept his mouth moving. "If you do that, the world will be saved."

Tails flicking, Ratatosk lifted its head and commanded, "Awaken, Centurions! Restore the bond with your monsters, and repair the mana of the world!" The Summon Spirit's gaze snapped back down to the two mortals standing before it. "And then go and eradicate mankind who destroyed my tree!" Sharp rodent teeth clicked as the Summon Spirit bristled in fury.

Even while he had expected this, Aster staggered back a step. "Wh- what are you doing?"

Crawling down from its monolith, Ratatosk sneered, "You want to save the world, right?"

"Yes, but you don't have to kill everyone to do that!" Aster shook his head. Richter had completely lost his voice and stood in silent shock, mouth open in horror.

Ratatosk straightened, towering over the pair of mortals, fury in its red eyes. "Who destroyed the Giant Kharlan Tree? Hmm? It was the humans and the half-elves! That's why they deserve the same treatment themselves."

Aster threw his hands out and blurted, "But a new World Tree has been born in the world!" The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He had a terrible feeling that he was only making things worse the more he talked.

"And it's just a matter of time before you humans and half-elves destroy that one as well," Ratatosk snarled, showing its sharp teeth again. "Don't you understand? You 'people' are nothing more than parasites on this world."

Richter stood in terrified immobility beside him. It only spurred Aster to keep running his mouth even though he could practically hear his mother, every one of his teachers, and every last person he had ever respected telling him to shut up. "No! That's not true! Humans and half-elves are a very important part of this-"

"SILENCE!" Ratatosk's hands lifted, white light glowing between them.

The world rippled. Bright hot light shot over his head as Richter's weight bore him to the floor. Just as suddenly, Richter was on his feet, sword and axe drawn, standing boldly between him and Ratatosk.

The Summon Spirit settled back on its haunches, tails flicking as it gazed down at them. Aqua appeared, as did a nightmare black cat creature.

Aster slowly gathered himself together, his mouth dry as he tried to swallow. Realization that Ratatosk had just attempted to kill him began to process through his brain. A few clicks later, he realized that Richter had saved him. He crouched on the floor, ready to run if it looked like things were going to get messy.

"Stand down, Richter," Ratatosk said, gaze flicking from Aqua to the black Centurion.

Slowly, Richter lowered his weapons and straightened. A moment more passed before he sheathed them. "What happened?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Ratatosk muttered and turned away, patting its paws across the monolith. "My barrier is intact. Tenebrae, what do you remember?"

"I was escorting Lady Marta and Lord Emil here," the black creature said, his gaze moving to Richter, then focusing on Aster.

"Aqua," Ratatosk said.

"I... I brought Richter and Aster here to speak with you..." Aqua stammered, looking from one person to the next in utter confusion. "Please don't kill them, Lord Ratatosk! Not all mortals are bad!" She drifted forward to put herself between Richter and the Summon Spirit, though it seemed Ratatosk was hardly interested in them anymore.

Ratatosk flipped a hand at her dismissively. "That's not an issue." The Summon Spirit looked at Richter, then Aster briefly before turning back to Richter. "What do you remember?"

"We were speaking," he said and pushed his fingers under his glasses to rub his eyes, "about Marta and Emil's engagement. I remember someone else being there. But I can't recall his face."

Nodding, the Summon Spirit turned and scampered back atop the monolith. "Centurions, I rescind my order to eliminate all mortals. Re-establish your bond with the monsters and repair the mana flow. Richter, I will recreate Emil and send him with you. We must discover who has tampered with the flow of time and determine their intentions. I will remain here to guard the gate."

"You're letting me go?" Richter asked, hands dropping to his sides.

"My gate is sealed," Ratatosk said with a flick of its ears. "There is no reason to keep you."

Aster slowly climbed to his feet. "Excuse me... but what...?"

Ratatosk turned to look at him. Instinctively, Aster shied back. "Take the annoying one with you, Richter," the Summon Spirit said. "Tenebrae, Aqua, accompany them."

Richter half turned to look back at him, an expression of relief on his face before he turned back towards Ratatosk. "Don't call him that," he admonished.

"Just get out!" Ratatosk growled with a snap of its teeth.

Aqua swam down, grasping Aster's wrist in one hand and Richter's arm with the other. "Hurry," she urged, pulling them down the bridge to the door. The black dog-cat creature floated behind them with a look of amusement on his face, though Aster wondered how that was even possible given the bone structures involved. Ratatosk had disappeared again. The door closed practically on his nose.

"Uhm. I hope this doesn't get awkward," the sound of a young man's voice startled Aster. He turned to find a green-eyed version of himself nervously gazing back.

"Aster will have to get used to it," Richter said. "I'm glad he sent you instead of coming himself."

The young man in blue shifted his weight slightly and smiled a little. "He's had enough of company for a while, I think."

"So... who is this?" Aster asked. "What's going on?"

"I'm Emil," the young blond said, though he looked a bit older than Aster himself, he guessed maybe twenty, given his height. Emil placed a hand on his chest with a self-deprecating smile, "Ratatosk's avatar, you could say..."

"Long story short," Richter added as he smiled fondly at Aster, "We seem to have changed the timeline."

...

"I hope he's okay," Emil said quietly to Richter as they walked. Aster had fallen behind, Aqua hovering near him while Tenebrae had opted to float at Emil's eye level on his left.

Richter glanced back. "He's just overwhelmed. He'll be back to talking our ears off once he wraps his head around it all."

"I guess it is a bit... much," Emil mused as they walked up the winding path to the roots of Ratatosk's World Tree. His gaze drifted to the spot Alice and Decus died... only not yet, apparently.

"Ha, talking our ears off," Tenebrae mused.

"Stop," Richter said automatically.

Tenebrae gave the half-elf an exasperated look. "You're not even having your mana burnt and still-"

"Because your puns are awful!" Richter's voice echoed in the cavern, causing Aster and Aqua to look over.

Emil flushed and scrubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as he glanced at them over his shoulder. Their trek had been unmolested by the monsters of the gap, though Emil regretted that he had not managed to make pacts with any of the ones they did fight. He supposed he wasn't attuned to their elements enough yet and let it slide. He and Richter, with Aqua's monster help were enough to keep all of them safe enough. At the gate, Emil used his power to open it, releasing them back into the fresh air and light of a full moon.

"So I guess we should just make camp here for the night?" Aster suggested, hands on his hips as he looked up at the dark sky. "Seems silly to try to go anywhere this time of night..." He pushed his hand through his hair. "Besides, I think you, sir, owe me a bit of an explanation," he looked firmly at Emil.

"Let's set up camp first," Richter said.

"I'll cook," Emil said hastily with a sidelong look at Richter.

"Good, yours is at least edible," the redhead muttered.

"Are you insulting my cooking?" Aster asked.

Emil quickly waved his hands, "Ah, uhm. Let's not fight please!"

"I was actually making comment about my cooking," Richter said as he moved away towards what looked like the remains of a camp. Emil followed him to take a closer look at what Richter had available in the pack he tossed to the ground next to a fire pit ringed with rocks. Aster approached and collapsed to his butt across from Emil as Richter started dumping firewood into the pit. "Least you could do is help set up."

"Looks like you two have things under control. Why am I needed?" Aster asked, leaning back on his hands, legs crossed in front of him.

Emil winced and knew that Aster had seen it then sighed. "After we eat?" he asked morosely. He wasn't looking forward to the explanation he and Richter were going to have to drop on the young man. He bent his head and put his hands to work putting something together for the three of them to eat.

"Aren't bunny potatoes a little excessive?" Aster asked, causing Emil to look up. "I'd have thought Ratatosk wouldn't know how to cook. Let alone advanced techniques like food carving." He tipped his head with a hint of a smile.

"Uhm. Well... It's a bit difficult to explain... But I'm more like just a part of Ratatosk."

"The better part, I'd like to add," Richter muttered as he set the firewood ablaze.

Emil flushed again.

"So you take after me with ego too?" Aster asked.

"No..." Emil shook his head quickly. "Well, I mean... I'm not... egotistical or anything."

Richter snorted. "What he means to say is that Ratatosk isn't a nice person and Emil got the better end of the deal getting split off."

"More like I annoy him," Emil said with a sigh. "Even if we're still aware of each other... kind of the way you're aware of your foot."

"Feet certainly are important, and I do know when they're uncomfortable," Aster agreed. "So where did you learn to cook?"

Flustered, Emil dumped his potatoes into the pot to start cooking. "Um. I had an aunt... sort of... It's complicated."

"I can't believe I forgot how nosy you can be," Richter said as he dropped to a seat on the ground. "Go easy on him, Aster."

Aster's brows knit as he looked at Richter thoughtfully for a second. "But it isn't every day you have dinner with a Summon Spirit."

Shaking his head, Emil sat back, having finished chopping ingredients for their dinner; it was just a matter of letting them cook. "I'm not... exactly. I don't have any of the powers of a Summon Spirit anymore. I'm human, so if you want to call me anything, say I'm a Knight of Ratatosk instead."

Tenebrae snorted, fading in from the darkness to sit beside Emil. "And you're still clinging to that made up title I gave you."

"Marta likes it," Emil said defensively.

"And Marta gets what Marta wants, I suppose," Tenebrae mused with a flick of his ears.

"You think she shouldn't?" Emil demanded.

"I think you spoil her," Tenebrae retorted. "But what would I know. I'm just a Centurion."

Emil sighed, knowing that Marta would have taken that opportunity to remind Tenebrae that he was old. While it would have put the Centurion back a pace, Emil couldn't get the words past his teeth and remained silent. "Tenebie," he managed to mutter and knew the Centurion had heard him when his back bristled. Silently returning to cooking, Emil brooded on thoughts of Marta. She had been with him when they went to visit Richter and Ratatosk. For all his bluster, Ratatosk did like her, so visiting wasn't out of line, but Emil wasn't sure whether she had gotten pulled back the same way Richter and Ratatosk had. And if she had, where was she?

Collapsing onto his side, Aster propped his head on one hand. "Let me get this straight. You two somehow traveled back from the future - a future in which I'm dead, and instead of letting me die, you tampered with the timeline and saved me." He looked over at Richter.

The half-elf winced. "It sort of happened..."

"And Ratatosk learned to regret it," Emil put in quickly and frowned briefly. "You're not upset?"

"I'm still breathing now," Aster gestured with one hand towards the sky. "Though I wonder if the timeline won't try to correct itself somehow? Or if we're in an off-shoot parallel world now? That could be my next thesis, since the whole Ratatosk and mana flow thing has been sorted out."

Richter hardly looked pleased. "After everything..." he sighed.

"Or, seeing as how you two know what the future holds," Aster continued, "You have the unprecedented ability to make changes to guide the world."

"Well," Emil said, "we at least know what not to do," and glanced at Richter pointedly.

Aster sat up again. "Oh this sounds fascinating."

Shaking his head, Emil bit his lips together and dropped his gaze.

"Oh, so neither of you wants to tell me what happens next," Aster said.

Richter cleared his throat. "I'm not proud of it. But I had reasons and a plan."

Emil could feel Aster's eyes on him and avoided looking up by working on serving dinner, which he handed a bowl of to Richter first, then Aster before taking one for himself.

"Well, how are we to guide the future if you won't say what's supposed to happen?" Aster asked, sitting up entirely to eat. "Oh wow, this is good! Thanks, Ratatosk."

"Emil," he corrected.

"Why are we beating around the bush with all of this?" Tenebrae asked with a sigh. "If neither of you are capable of telling him, then I will."

"Really?" Aster asked, leaning forward.

Tenebrae nodded. "I, too, was there for the events in question."

Emil glanced furtively towards Richter, knowing this probably wasn't something he wanted Aster to know, but Tenebrae had already launched into a long-winded recount of events, starting with his showing up just after Richter had reduced Ratatosk to a core state for murdering Aster. Aqua had gathered closer to hover at Richter's side with a pouty expression and occasionally interrupted Tenebrae with assertions that she thought Richter's actions were justified. She, after all, had a soft spot for Aster as well.

Aster had stopped eating at the point where Palmacosta had been razed. It took him a few more minutes of just breathing with his eyes closed before he raised another bite to his mouth.

The half-elf sat through the whole thing, mechanically eating his dinner, gaze on the fire. Emil sighed softly and got back to eating. He had hoped that Aster could at least wait until after dinner because he obviously wasn't taking this well. He was sure Aster's food had gone cold by the time Tenebrae was finished and he set the plate aside, fingers laced together as he stared at the Centurion and Emil for a moment before turning towards Richter. "What in Martel's name made you think I'd want to get resurrected in the first place, and in the second place, did it really occur to you that I'd agree with your methods?"

Richter didn't have anything to say in his defense and remained silent.

"I'm kind of glad this happened," Aster gestured vaguely at the group in general. "If it means I can keep Richter from doing stupid things like mass murder and setting the world on fire."

"I won't ask for forgiveness," Richter said softly and took a slow breath before meeting Aster's eyes. "But you were my first friend. The first person to ever trust me or show me kindness on a personal level, I refused to let go of that."

Aster rubbed his eyes with a sigh. "Well, the only consolation is that it hasn't happened that way this time."