Random Oneshots

Tales of Phantasia

Characters: Cress Albane, Mint Adenade, Chester Burklight, and Arche Klein

Genre: Fanfiction, AU

Pairings: Slight Cress x Mint (It can be platonic if you want to see it that way)

Warnings: Mentioned character death, traumatic flashbacks, emotional hurt.

Authors notes: I havent gotten that far into Phantasia, but I really like all of the characters. I wanted to write this one because of Cress' reaction to his parents death in the game. He seemed as if he was trying to hide his pain.
Also, if you catch any moments where I misspelled Cress as Cless, its because I'm used to calling him both since both are valid translations of his name.

Enjoy.

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"Cress, dont cry." Flashes of blood. Metal. Sadness. Hurt. All of these things flew into the vision of a young boy at a tender age of ten. His father already dead, and his mother, crippled and dying before him.

As blood and tears ran down her face, he could vividly remember her outstretched arm as it reached over in an attempt to cup his cheek. The shock he felt had held still the tears in his eyes, but his mother's faint touch made him quiver.

"Mom?..." he held her hand tight in his, the tears beginning to form.

"No Cress, please dont cry. Please show me how strong of a boy you've become." She wiped a tear before it began to leave his eye and looked at him with one more bittersweet smile before here eyes lost their light and her arm fell limp from his face.

"Mom!" The child screamed, but no tears fell. He couldnt do that to her, he would obey her dying wish.

Never would he cry again.

"Mom!" Cress woke with a start, his chest heaving and heart pounding as memories of that night swam through his skull. The red and black mixed with the metallic scent of death slowly faded from his senses, bringing him back to reality.

He looked around his room, grounding himself, trying to pull his thoughts from the abyss that they had dug themselves into.

When his breath settled, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, taking a moment to stretch the tension out of him. That dream came back to him every now and then.

At ten years old he had been in the car with his parents, as well as his friend Chester's sister, when out of nowhere a drunk driver slammed into the side of their car, killing everyone but him.

Its not like Chester blamed him, or held any resentment towards him. Nor did anyone else he knew, but the day stuck with him, and he hadnt moved on since it seemed.

Now he was seventeen, he had expected after seven years to have come to terms with what had happened, he knew it wasnt his fault either. Something about it made his gut turn though, like he had something he needed to let go.

Although he wasnt sure what it was.

Now he lived with a family friend, Morrison, who had agreed to take him in.

Cress stood up, heading out of his room and into the kitchen. It was late at night, one o'clock in the morning at least, but he needed something to calm his nerves.

He poured himself a glass of water, chugging it until the cup was again empty before placing it in the sink. When he turned around, Morrison stood before him.

"Happened again, huh?" He asked. When Cress only nodded he spoke up again in the silent house, "I'm sorry you have to live with this, kid." Was all he said before retreating back to his room.