[Destiny Smasher]

Here's my most recent fic in the Destinia Saga.

This one details the adventures of Lloyd and Sheena after the events of Tales of Symphonia. So, um...Yea, spoilers, people.

Anyway, the story quickly links with my Golden Sun fic and even introduces InuYasha characters as core elements of the plot (Along with some very bizarre cameos that are sure to induce some laughs).

The Prologue is a little cheap (It's a possible scene in the game) but I felt it was important to the plot I follow. The title of the fic derives from the scene, for crying out loud.

//////////

Winds of Fate: A Thousand Needles

Prologue- Establishing the Pact

The night was calm and quiet. There was hardly a sound to be heard in the village of Heimdall. Everyone had gone soundly to sleep- except Lloyd. How COULD he sleep? So many thoughts poured through his mind, swirling around like the ocean itself. Everything was so tranquil and blissful, and yet his mind was unsettled and cramped. It was so quiet that it was almost frightening.

He lay sprawled out on his bed, his head rested on his arms which were folded under his neck. He'd been in such a daze that he hadn't even bothered to put away his swords or his equipment.

{Don't die, Lloyd...}

The words echoed from weeks passed. That's what Kratos had told him. It hadn't made sense at all before, but now it did...And Lloyd was having trouble accepting it.

{Why should HE care if I die or not?} he demanded inwardly. {He's not on our side...Or is he...? It doesn't matter. We have to bring the two worlds together. But STILL...I can't just KILL him. No more sacrifices. That's what I swore. There HAS to be way...}

Shattering his confused and blurry thoughts was a rapping at the door. It wasn't very loud or prominent, but Lloyd could hear it from the next room. He was almost sure he knew who it was. After traveling together with his friends for so long, he'd developed an odd sense: he could match his friends to the way they knocked on his door. A little strange, but it was this unique sense that told his gut to reply. He wasn't particularly in the mood to talk with anyone, but...Perhaps this was his best friend. Maybe they could help ease his weary mind.

He sat up in his bed let out a slightly groggy groan.

"What is it?" he asked to the person who had broke the silence.

The door slowly creaked open as a familiar figure elegantly stepped through the darkness. He could barely make out her face in the dimly lit room. Upon seeing his slightly grouchy look, she let out a nervous laugh.

"Heh...You still up?" she murmured, feeling a bit sorry for having disturbed him. When Lloyd's hopes were confirmed concerning her identity, his demeanor calmed down.

"...I couldn't really get to sleep," he admitted with a shrug.

The girl before him gave him an unconfident smrik.

"Well, in that case, you want some company for a little while?"

Lloyd smiled warmly and accepted the offer.

"...Okay, then. Just for a little while."

//////////

The stars glistened proudly down at them, as if congratulating them on their efforts to get as far as they had. The skies were a strange mix of black with red and blue colors swirling about faintly. The moon had a green tint about as it bathed them in its relaxing light.

They paced down a pathway, side-by-side, and Sheena began the conversation.

"So...aren't you nervous?"

Lloyd gave her a quick glance as he mumbled, "Huh?"

"About tomorrow," Sheena answered, tilting her head to the side to meet his eyes. "The battle with Kratos."

Lloyd's head bobbed down a little as they continued their walk.

"Yea...a little," he confessed quietly.

"Right," Sheena muttered, feeling a bit foolish for asking an question that had such a bluntly obvious answer. "Of course you'd be..." She paused, her eyes wandering to a lamp post they were passing. Its light radiated the air around it, making a few bugs that fluttered around it visible. "Doesn't it...bother you?" she wondered, her focus going back to her friend.

"What? Fighting with Kratos?" Lloyd checked, his mind wandering around left and right. He had to make sure he was on the same track.

Their feet had come to a stop before a small stone bench that lay next to the river that ran gracefully through the town.

"Yea...I mean...he's your father, right? Isn't it kind of difficult to face him?"

Lloyd, his eyes deep and thoughtful as they watched the cold water slip by, muttered an answer.

"The fact that he's my father still hasn't sunk in. When I stop and think about it, it DOES seem like he helped me out a lot along the way. But he also betrayed us, and put us through hell," he added sadly. "So accepting the fact that he's my father...is harder to deal with than the fact that I have to fight him."

"Mm," Sheena hummed gloomily. "...I see...But I'm still a little envious," she admitted weakly.

Lloyd turned to her with an incredulous look on his face.

"Why??"

Sheena shrugged as she explained. "Well, you know...I was abandoned as a child, so I don't have a clue who my parents are," she told him quietly.

"Ahh," was all he could say, feeling sympathy. Sheena continued to analyze. "I thought about what it would be like if I was in your place...If my parent was my enemy, and yet still came to my aid...I think I'd just be all confused."

"Heh," Lloyd let out a small huff. "...I'm...confused, too. Even now."

The girl from Mizuho let a small snicker escape. It was a little stupid to be telling him some strange thought like this. "...Well, so when I imagined about fighting my own father tomorrow," her voice got solemn and slightly fearful, "I got really frightened."

Lloyd stared at her as her head hung a bit. His eyes were wide, and he felt sorry that she'd been going through what he had. It must've been why she was still awake, too. They thought more alike than he had first realized, apparently.

"You did?" he asked her with a little touch of concern. "Hehe. You dork! You don't have to put yourself in my shoes THAT much, you know!" he told her.

{Dork,} Sheena laughed in her mind. {Why does he seem charming when he's calling me a dork?}

With a combination of a laugh and a sigh, she said to him, "I know! But either way, it nearly drove me CRAZY...I couldn't take it." She shrugged, and felt that the 'dork' comment was quite true since she was ranting about such weird things.

"Huh..." Lloyd sat down slowly as he quickly processed what all of that meant. She cared about him a lot, didn't she? Well, he knew he cared about her. She was his best friend, whom he trusted more than anyone.

"Thanks, Sheena," he murmured with the warmth that comes from a campfire in the cold.

Sheena remained standing, and her face looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Ah...nah, it's...a...um..." She trailed off, losing her place in that conversation. {If you're going to ask him, you'd better do it now. You may not get another chance,} she thought to herself.

"Say, what are you planning to do after this?" Her question was a little sudden and out of the blue, and Lloyd found it a bit vague.

"After this?" he pondered, a tad lost.

Sheena overcame her nervousness and seated herself beside him carefully.

"When the worlds are re-united, our journey will be over, right?" she reminded him. "So, what then?"

The young man looked up to the stars as he told her his idea, relishing the notion. "Well...I think I want to go on a journey to collect all the Exspheres."

"Oh...That's a good idea," Sheena muttered, taken aback. She'd never really thought about it. But it didn't matter to her where he was going, in particular. After a pause, she asked him a question. She stumbled at the beginning with her words as she mumbled meakly, "Could I...Could I come along with you?"

Lloyd turned to look at her with surprise.

"Huh? You don't have to go back to Mizuho?"

Sheena's face turned red with embarrassment in the moonlight, but she kept her gaze locked onto him. "Ahhh..." She was practically whispering to him as she confessed what she had wanted to tell him at the beginning of the entire conversation.

"I...I wanna be with you," she sheepishly murmured with a weak smile.

Lloyd was captured by her words, and his heart leapt out with the response quicker than he thought it would.

"Sh-sure...I wanna be with you, too." They exchanged embarrassed grins.

Sheena hopped to her feet in excitement and clasped her hands together.

"R-really?" A gleeful giggle that borderlined insanity erupted from her as her voice jumped to life with joy. "Then it's settled, okay? You can't change your mind now! We're going on a journey to collect all the Exspheres in the world!"

"Yea," the hero nodded, glancing back up to the stars. "That way, no more people will fall victim to the Exspheres. And these things will never be dragged into a conflict like this again." The night sky was glittering with stars, and as Lloyd stared in awe at them, he felt as if every star was a life lost to the mysterious stones.

"It's a promise," Sheena vowed to him, not quite in the same realm of thought as he was at the moment. She crossed her arms over her chest as her tone got feisty and even had a pinch of suspicion to it. "If you don't keep it, I'm going to invoke the tradition of making a liar swallow a thousand needles." The end of her sentence was spiced with threat.

Lloyd was brought back to this sentimental moment and jumped to his feet, caught off guard by her words. "Whoa," he moaned with friendly fear. "Okay, okay, I promise," he assured her, holding his hands out defensively.

Sheena's mock hostility died as quickly as it had been born, and Lloyd admired the way her eyes glowed with anticipation. The summoner dove into his brown eyes and embraced their warmth. After what felt like a small eternity of gazing, Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.

"Ya know, if we're going to save Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, we should probably get some rest, huh?"

Sheena gave him a toothy grin and chuckled. "Yea. I guess you're right."


\\\\\\\\\\