Lord Cynic: "No one who wrote this story owns Tales of Symphonia."


Playtime

Lloyd opened his eyes and found himself in an open field. A gentle breeze blew through the air and lightly ruffled his chocolate-brown hair. The sky was clear and the radiant sun shone majestically across the land, revealing all but a small figure in the distance, west of Lloyd. A figure that seemed so familiar to him.

"Lloyd." A melodic voice rang through Lloyd's ears, filled with laughter and sweetness. He spun around frantically, trying to locate where the voice had come from. "I'm over here, silly." The tone was playful, and for some reason Lloyd couldn't help but picture a blonde girl with dazzling blue eyes and a heart-warming smile in his mind.

"Where are you?" he asked. If she (Lloyd could tell the voice was that of a girl's) couldn't answer the question, however it was, the direction of her voice would make things easier. "Who are you?"

The feminine voice simply giggled, making Lloyd slightly annoyed. He waited impatiently before getting a real reply. "I'm waiting for you to find me, Lloyd." A really vague reply. "Come and find me, Lloyd."

Lloyd literally growled in agitation at the cheekiness in the mysterious voice. He finally had enough of playing around and sprinted in one direction – opposite to that of the forgotten figure. Said stranger seemed to shift as Lloyd disappeared, as if stifling giggles.

"Wrong way, Lloyd." Lloyd screeched to a halt and threw his arms into the air in resignation. "I'm sorry, Lloyd." Okay, he'd definitely heard that before. But where, and who? "Try the other way, Lloyd. I'm still waiting."

The brown-haired teenager reluctantly took heed of the 'advice' and retraced his steps. He continued in the same direction until the neglected figure in the distance returned to his view. 'I forgot about that,' he thought dumbly. 'Maybe…' He started to approach the stranger, waiting for some sort of reaction.

He got one soon enough, in the form of another girlish giggle. "This is just like hide and seek! You're getting warmer, Lloyd!" He had to resist the urge to shake his head and mutter "Dork" as he got closer.

Soon enough, he was at arm's length of the shadow-clad person. When he tried to reach out to her with his hand, however, a fierce gust caught him off-balance. He steadied himself against the wind – only to turn around and find no one where someone used to be.

"Huh?" He was dumbfounded. He immediately looked around to try and locate the mysterious person. "Where'd she go?"

Suddenly, he was tackled from behind by an unexpected force. He landed on the ground with a rough "Oof!", the impact taking the wind out of him. He tried to get up, only to discover he was pinned down by someone with blonde hair (which was draped over his face).

"Colette?" His somewhat rhetorical question was answered by a gleeful giggle and slightly more force in the hug the blonde girl was giving to him. He began to blush, his face steadily going red, possibly from embarrassment. "Ack! C… Can't… b… b… breathe…" Oh, correction: he was choking.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Lloyd felt Colette's hug retreat and her slim body move off of his back. He sat up and took deep breathes to get precious oxygen back into his lungs, seeing Colette bow her head out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to face her, her complexion abruptly reddened. "Are… are you okay?"

"I'm fine, you dork," Lloyd reassured her. He grinned amiably at her, earning a grateful smile from the petite girl. "So what are you doing out here?"

Colette blushed again and timidly looked away. Lloyd became confused by her actions, and it showed by his expression. He was about to repeat the question when she responded in a small voice, "Can… can we… play a game?"

"Huh?" Lloyd's blunt answer caused Colette to duck her head. He mentally berated himself for his rudeness and smiled consolingly. "Sure. What game?"

Colette seemed to not expect a positive answer to a childish question. Her eyes were glued to Lloyd's face, widened with shock and gleaming with hope. When Lloyd nodded she beamed widely and tapped him playfully on the arm. "You're it!"

Lloyd laughed heartily when Colette ran away gaily, giggling with excitement. He let her have a head start before giving chase. Together they ran across the wide, open field, laughing with delight and trying to tag each other.

Eventually, Lloyd was close enough to engulf Colette in a friendly bear hug. Their momentum caused them to tumble to the ground, faces flushed with adrenalin. When they looked into each other's eyes, however, their cheeks coloured with coy embarrassment and shyness. Lloyd could hear his heart pounding in his chest, and unless he was mistaken he could hear the soft thumping of Colette's.

Slowly, their heads started drifting towards each other's. Lloyd closed his eyes in anticipation, heightening his other senses. He smelled the scent of Colette Brunel, full of vanilla and honey and all things sweet, just like her. He heard the combined rhythmic beating of their hearts, indicating their nervousness. He felt the strands of her golden hair tickling his face and the soft breaths coming from her slightly parted lips.

But most of all, he wanted to taste. He wanted to taste Colette's inviting lips. He wanted to taste the vanilla and the honey and the other flavours he longed to savour. He wanted to taste the lips of an angel, lips he could very well taint with his own undeserving pair. He wanted to… he wanted to…


"Lloyd! Stop it! What are you doing?"

The children in the Iselia School laughed as Lloyd, his eyes closed, tried to kiss a cornered Genis. The taller boy was obviously dreaming, the soft murmurs of "Colette" just barely audible through the giggles and snickers of the class. The shorter boy was, to be blunt, very freaked out.

"This always happens when Professor Raine and Colette are absent, doesn't it?" one child said to another.

"Uh huh," agreed the giggling friend.

"Lloyd, get off me! Raine, help!"

The End


Mashu: "You ruined it!"

Lord Cynic: "Heheheh…"

Mashu: "Meanie!"

Lord Cynic: "Oh suck it up…"