Symphonia Thanksgiving

Chapter 1: A Small Gathering

Three months had passed since they reunited Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. Everyone was busy following that time, but they deserved a little time to rest. At least, Lloyd thought so. That was why, after discussing it with Dirk, he invited all their friends to Iselia for a nice dinner where they could catch up and be happy to be together again.

"Besides," he said, "we have a lot to celebrate. The two worlds are together again, and we have a chance for peace."

"I love the idea!" Collette clasped her hands together in front of her and jumped up and down. "It's sort of a thanksgiving!"

"Who's going to cook for everyone?" Dirk asked, with a look on his face that suggested it wouldn't be him.

Raine stepped forward with an eager smile. "I can—"

"Regal is a great cook," Lloyd said, before she could volunteer. This was supposed to be fun, and that didn't involve Raine's cooking. "I bet he'd love the opportunity to make a fancy dinner and show off a little."

"That sounds great!" Colette looked happier with each passing moment. "I'll start sending out invitations!"

Dirk walked into the house. "I'll clear off a table."

"I'll help with the invitations," Raine said. "Let's see, we'll need to contact Sheena, Zelos, Regal, and Presea . . ."

"Yuan deserves an invitation too," Lloyd said. "And maybe Altessa?"

"We'll take care of it." She and Colette left together.

Things were well on their way, then. Except . . . He turned to Genis, who hadn't said a word the entire time. "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" Genis blinked, but then smiled. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Still, his laugh sounded a little strained. "It'll be great to see everyone again . . ."

"Yeah." Lloyd looked up at the sky. "I wish there was a way to invite Kratos, though. It won't seem the same without him."

Genis lowered his gaze and stared down at the ground. "Yeah . . ."

"Well, wherever he is, he wouldn't want us to be depressed. Come on, let's help prepare for this party."

#

On the day of the celebration, Regal arrived early, as requested. He was decked out like a chef and seemed happier than Lloyd ever saw him before.

"What exactly will I be doing?" he asked.

"Well," Lloyd said, "there will be . . ." He ran through everyone in his mind. "Eleven people."

"Sounds doable." Regal rubbed his chin. It still seemed odd to see him without handcuffs, not that Lloyd would ever say so out loud. "Why don't we have turkey?"

"Great!"

"And we'll have some mashed potatoes, too. Let's see . . ."

Raine approached and cleared her throat. "May I join you? I've been practicing, and I think I've come up with a great experimental recipe!"

"Th-that's fine," Lloyd said. "I think we really need your help, uh . . ." He looked around for inspiration.

Genis saved him. "Come on, sis, I need help setting up the chairs." In light of how many people were coming, they'd taken two tables from Dirk's house and arranged them outside with chairs borrowed from Iselia.

"Oh, all right," she said.

As she left, Regal let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. After finally being free, I don't need to be an accessory to manslaughter."

Lloyd laughed, and Regal vanished inside the house to prepare the food.

A moment later, Dirk exited and rolled his eyes. "Asked why I didn't have a turkey. Why would I have a turkey on hand?"

"Do you need help, Dad?"

"No, I'll just go into town and buy one." He winked. "If Genis runs out of ways to keep Professor Sage occupied, send her after me. I could use help carrying the vegetables."

"Thanks."

On the dwarf's way out, he passed Presea, who greeted him with almost a smile. She hadn't changed much, although she said she'd started to age again. Colette, who stood near the trees with a guest list, checked her name off and spoke to her for a moment.

Presea walked to Lloyd. "This was a wonderful idea."

"Thanks," he said. "How have you been?"

"Well enough. Coming to terms with my new life."

Thud!

Lloyd spun toward the table, where Genis had dropped a chair on his foot. The half-elf hopped around for a moment, then seemed to realize he had an audience. He limped over to them and smiled in a way he probably thought was casual.

"Hey, Presea. How have you been?"

"I'm fine." A trace of amusement tinged her voice. "How are you?"

Lloyd left them alone to talk—Genis would be fine, if he ever got over his nervousness around her, although then they would have to discuss the matter of Presea's real age—and took over setting up chairs with Raine. Around the two tables, eleven chairs could be spaced evenly.

"That's that," she said. "Now, about that experimental recip—"

"By the way, Professor Sage, Dirk was hoping you'd go into town and help him carry vegetables."

She folded her arms. "You're trying to keep me away from the kitchen aren't you?"

He laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Uh . . ."

"You could have just asked." She smiled. "Did you think I'd mind?"

Yes, he did, actually.

"This is a time for us to be happy with our friends," she said. "Nothing can upset me today. I'll go after Dirk and see what he needs help with."

Lloyd smiled. "Thanks."

"Professor Sage!" Altessa's voice came from beyond the trees a second before the dwarf emerged, a large sack in his arms. "Where are you going?"

She blinked. "I was on my way into Iselia to get ingredients for dinner. Why?"

"I need your help with something." He frowned. "Anyone can buy food, but you're one of the few people who can help me with this."

Lloyd joined them and eyed the sack, which clanked and clinked every time Altessa moved. "What's in there?"

"It's a surprise." He glared at him as though he expected a fight. "One I need the professor's help with."

"Don't worry!" Colette rushed over and handed Lloyd the list of guests. "I'll help Dirk instead." She ran into the forest and promptly tripped. "Oops!" Then she was off again."

Lloyd shook his head and took her position near the entrance to wait for more guests. Things already felt chaotic, and the party hadn't started yet. What was Altessa up to?

Oh well, whatever it was, it couldn't be anything bad. The dwarf made mistakes in the past, but he was a good person.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Zelos strode through the trees with a bright smile on his face.

His butler, his sister, and a blonde woman Lloyd didn't recognize followed him.

Lloyd looked from him to the others. "Hi?"

Zelos slung an arm across his shoulders. "Hey, you don't mind me bringing a few guests, do you? Seles doesn't really get out a lot—"

"Not that I wanted to come," his sister interrupted.

He continued as though she hadn't spoken. "—and Sebastian worries about us if we're gone too long. Besides, the old boy could use a little relaxation himself."

The butler looked faintly offended at the suggestion that he might relax.

"And lastly"—Zelos waved the blonde woman forward and put his arm around her waist—"this is my date, Miranda."

She beamed.

Sheena arrived in time to hear the introduction. "Argh!" She glared at Zelos. "This is supposed to be a friendly dinner, and you bring some . . . some . . ."

He gave her a mocking bow. "I see you didn't come alone, either."

What?

Lloyd followed Zelos's gaze. Behind Sheena stood Igaguri, Orochi, and Kuchinawa, the last of whom looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Sheena put her hands on her hips and scowled at Zelos. "That's different. They came as my guests to help restore peace after everything that happened." She turned to Lloyd. "It's not a problem, right?"

"No, no problem." He wrote the names of the newcomers at the bottom of the checklist. He'd have to tell Regal they were expecting six more people for dinner.

Seles looked like she wanted to kill both Sheena and Miranda. Off to a good start.

"Why don't you guys go, uh, mingle?" he said. "Everyone else should be here soon." He looked at the checklist again. Yuan was the only one who hadn't arrived yet. No problem. He turned toward the house so he could tell Regal about the additional guests—

—and ran right into Raine.

"Agh!" He jumped back. "Professor, is something wrong?"

"Yes." She looked back toward a clearing by the side of the house, where Noishe watched Altessa with interest as he fiddled with pieces of machinery. "You said Yuan is coming, right?"

"Yes . . ." He frowned toward Altessa. Some of the equipment he held looked like it came straight from Desian and Renegade bases. "Why?"

"He might be able to help us, but we were hoping we could have another set of eyes. Is it all right if invite Harley to dinner?"

"Harley?" He blinked. "The half-elf from Asgard, right?"

"Yes. He has the sort of mechanical mind we need for this."

"What are you two up to, anyway?"

"It's a surprise."

Lloyd sighed and added Harley's name to the list. "All right. One more shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you." She ran back to tell Altessa. They conferred together a moment longer before she grabbed one of the Rheairds they still had and took to the air.

Everyone paused what they were doing to look up as she took off, including Zelos.

Who then walked toward Lloyd with a brown-haired woman on his arm.

"Hi, Lloyd. I just wanted to introduce you to Lilac. She'd my date for dinner."

Lloyd stared at them, then looked around. The woman Zelos originally arrived with stood near Genis and Presea. All three worked together spread tablecloths over the assembled tables.

"Zelos . . ."

Zelos smiled at his date. "Have you met everyone yet? My dear friend Sheena is over there." He pointed toward where Sheena frowned at Altessa's pile of equipment. "Why don't you say hello?"

The moment she left, Lloyd stepped close. "You told me that other woman was your date!"

"Hey, I'm irresistible, what can I say?"

"You have two dates? Do they know that?"

"Nope." He winked. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Lloyd groaned and added Lilac's name to the checklist. Regal was going to kill him.

Dirk and Colette returned, in animated conversation as they carried bags full of groceries. From the dirt on Colette's clothes and the bags, she'd fallen more than once during the trip. They walked into the house.

At least the guests seemed to be getting along, more or less. Seles kept to herself, but that created a quiet corner where Kuchinawa took up residence. The two stood together in silence.

Sheena shook off the company of Zelos's second girlfriend, who started talking to Presea instead. Zelos crept up behind her and ushered his first girlfriend away before the two could notice each other. And Genis—

Lloyd frowned and looked around. Where did Genis go?

He walked up to Sheena, who looked like she had a headache. "Have you seen Genis?"

She nodded and pointed toward the trees. "He said he wanted to be alone for a little while."

"Did something happen?"

"I think he's just feeling down."

"I wonder—" A tap on Lloyd's shoulder cut him off, and he turned.

A young woman with long purple hair braided down to her waist gave him a gentle smile. "Are you really Lloyd Irving, the hero who saved the two worlds?"

"Uh . . . yes?" He scratched the back of his head. "Who are you?"

"Oh, didn't Zelos mention me?" She giggled and put her hand over her mouth. "My name is Zenora. He invited me as his date for this event."

Sheena's eyes bulged. "That IDIOT Chosen!"

Lloyd stared at the newcomer. "I see . . . Uh . . . welcome." Three dates? Zelos invited three different women to a small gathering and none of them knew about each other? He sighed and added Zenora to his list. "This is getting out of hand."

"Parties have a tendency to do so when they aren't planned well."

He looked from side to side at the sudden voice, then jumped as Origin drifted into view. "Is something wrong?"

The Summon Spirit looked rather confused by the question.

Sheena cleared her throat. "Oh yeah, the spirits asked if they could celebrate, too. I said it would be all right. After all, we couldn't have won without them."

Lloyd stared around in shock as Undine, Efreet, Sephie, Yutis, Fairess, Volt, Gnome, Celsius, Shadow, Maxwell, Luna, and even Aska and Verius appeared in the clearing and drifted through the startled guests.

"They all wanted to come?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, they've been bored for a long time."

"When was the last time we had a good party?" Luna asked.

"4,000 years ago," Maxwell called back.

She sighed. "That long, was it? After that, business, business, business."

"Don't forget betrayal," one of the Sylph spirits said.

"Business, betrayal . . ."

"Hey," Maxwell said, "all I get to do is hold a city in the air. You want to talk boring? Spend 4,000 years holding a city in the air!"

"Business, betrayal, boredom . . ."

Sheena must have noticed Lloyd's panicked expression. "Don't worry. They don't eat food."

"I know, but do we have room for them all?"

Not to mention that a group of bored Summon Spirits having their first party in 4,000 years sounded like a recipe for disaster. Especially since they were trying to mingle.

All the guests edged away from Shadow, and he finally joined Seles and Kochinawa at their lonely section of the table.

"Lloyd!" Genis ran out of the trees, eyes wide. "Lloyd, Lloyd!"

His heart sank. "What's wrong?"

"There's a fleet of Rheairds flying toward us!"

"A fleet?" He ran after his friend through the forest.

The Rheairds landed a short distance away, where the human ranch used to be. Their riders disembarked, all in uniforms Lloyd recognized too well. He approached Yuan's Rheaird and waited for an explanation.

"Sorry we're late," the Renegade leader said. "We had a little trouble. It seems we look like an invasion force when we all fly together like this, and some people still mistake us for the Desians."

"Late?" Lloyd asked. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that he seemed to have brought the entire group with him.

"We're not late? Oh, I'm glad to hear it. I didn't want to miss anything. I haven't attended a good party in . . . I guess it's been 4,000 years. The Summon Spirits came to that one; it was quite interesting."

"They're at this one, too," Lloyd said in a weak voice.

"Oh, good." Yuan followed the Renegades through the trees without another word.

Genis stared after them. "Lloyd, do you have any idea what's going on?"

"None."

They exchanged glances and ran back to the house.

Everyone else seemed just as disturbed by the sudden crowd of Renegades, except for Colette, who rushed from the house to greet Yuan. "Thank you for coming!"

"Thank you for the invitation."

Lloyd joined them. "But why did you bring so many people?"

Yuan frowned. "What do you mean? I received an invitation addressed to 'Yuan and the Renegades.' Was that a mistake?"

He looked so sad, Lloyd relented. "N-no, of course not . . ."

"I'm glad. Not everyone came, but those who did are really looking forward to it."

Lloyd started to sweat. This went beyond a few extra people. How was he going to break this to Regal?

A sudden gust of air and the whir of an engine announced Raine's return. The Rheaird wobbled as it landed, because while they could handle two people without trouble, the vehicles weren't built for four.

Four?

Raine disembarked first and hurried over to him while Harley helped Linar and Aisha to the ground.

"Lloyd," she said, "when I spoke to Harley, he mentioned that Linar and Aisha would love to see us again and thank us for all our help. It's not a problem, is it?"

He shook his head. At this point, what did it matter?

Beside him, Colette looked depressed. "Lloyd . . . did I make a mistake when I invited the Renegades?"

"We thought it would be a small group, that's all."

"Oh." Her smile gave him a sinking feeling. "Um . . . you know how you said this was a great way to celebrate the peace between worlds?"

Lloyd rubbed his forehead. "Did you invite someone else?"

Before she could answer, a voice from the edge of the trees asked, "Is this the right place?"

"There they are!" She ran past him to greet two men and one woman, all of whom wore the robes of the Church of Martel. "I thought this was a great way to show there's no hard feelings!"

Zelos, arm in arm with one of his dates, cast the newcomers a quizzical look. "Say, what do you guys do now that you're part of a false religion?"

"W-well," the priestess said, "it helps that there's a real Martel protecting the new Tree . . ."

While they debated religion, Lloyd fixed Colette with a serious stare. "That's it, right? You didn't invite anyone else, did you?"

She smiled.

"Colette . . ."

Before he could say anything else, a hesitant voice stopped him. "We aren't interrupting anything, are we? We got an invitation . . ."

"Welcome!" Colette rushed to greet five half-elves, one of whom Lloyd recognized as the elder of Exire. "Are the others coming?"

The elder shook his head. "Virginia declined. And the King of Tethe'alla sent a message asking us to pass on his regrets, but the royal delegation can't make it."

She slumped. "Aw . . ."

"However . . . Oh, here they come."

Three elves from Heimdall followed them into the clearing.

"This is wonderful!" Colette clasped her hands together and looked over her shoulder. "I think everyone's here now, Lloyd. At least, everyone I invited."

He sighed. Five citizens of Exire, three from Heimdall, all the Renegades, Zelos's girlfriends . . .

Presea appeared by his shoulder. "You appear troubled. What is wrong?"

"I'm just trying to count how many extra people came."

"Let me help you."

#

Compared to the atmosphere outdoors, the kitchen was quiet, as Dirk and Regal happily cooked for the small gathering they expected.

When Lloyd entered, Dirk looked up. "What is it?"

"Oh, well . . ." He scratched the back of his head and tried to look calm. "There were a few misunderstandings, and we're sort of having more people for dinner than we thought."

"How many more?" Regal asked.

Lloyd took a deep breath. "132."

Author's note: Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'm back for the first time in a long while with a holiday special. What wild antics will ensue?