Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or the characters involved; this is a what-of story series. What if the worlds were never divided and a chosen are born rarely but when they are born they end up leading the world for the time they live. The Church of Martel has recently established a council that speaks for the chosen and under the name of the chosen, a crusade has begun.

Valour of Mizuho

The heroic commander of the Church of Martel, Lloyd Irving, sat at the elegantly prepared table, draped in crimson cloth with fine silver set along the long surface with more food than one being could hope to devour; his swords lying on the table in front of him as he sat back and tipped a cup of wine to his lips. Lately, Lloyd found himself haunted by memories the sins he did and the lives he took in the name of duty while performing the will of the Church; wine helped suppress those memories after a few glasses filled with the blood like substance.

"Lloyd?" spoke a soft tone from behind.

Lloyd stirred in his chair which in turn caused him to lower the glass from his lips, glancing over his shoulder to see the chosen, Colette; she was always was a kind, gentle, and peaceful woman but due to such traits she lacked the strength of voice and always let the council speak for her, believing they knew what was best for the world.

"Chosen Colette," Lloyd spoke lightly as he stood up from his chair and turned to face the lovely young woman with a polite bow of his head, while standing at attention before her.

Colette gave a soft smile before glancing to his hand to see the crystalline cup with the noticeable elixir of forgotten memories inside which caused her smile faded slightly. "Are you still being haunted?" Colette frowned sadly, placing her hand over her heart lightly.

Lloyd glanced down at the glass before letting out a light sigh as well; he always tried to hide his drinking habits from Colette but she always had very keen timing to catch him. It wasn't that he wanted to keep secrets from her; it was more because that he didn't want to worry her so much.

"It is nothing to worry about," Lloyd stalled as thoughts quickly raced through his mind; giving a playful smile he raised the glass once more. "This is actually a celebration in the successful conversion of Oz-Tara." Lloyd lied, not a trait he was proud of but his rough training allowed him to be able to hide his emotions and intentions. Basic interrogation and torture numbing tactics proved to serve him well when fibbing.

"Oh really?" Colette smiled faintly while stepping closer. "I do hope it was a peaceful conversion." She added.

"It was, Colette." Lloyd confessed as he looked over to his cup and then lowered it back to hip level again. "That is why I am celebrating, a peaceful conversion is worth that honour, wouldn't you agree?" the red uniformed commander asked in a calm tone.

"I agree," Colette nodded with a light smile.

Lloyd had joined the church guard at the tender age to 16 by the behest of the chosen Colette when she became old enough to rule and for the next 6 years, Lloyd honed his skills as a knight of the church. He fought on the front lines ever since the Crusade had begun and survived many encounters that he thought for sure he should have died in. These victories led to award ceremonies where he was given medals for his efforts and rewarded for the people he killed, the innocents he slaughtered…rewarded for such bloodshed, such a twisted concept that is what Lloyd always thought. Now Lloyd was promoted, at the young age of 22, Lloyd became one of the few commanders of the church as they believed him to have the direct blessing from the Goddess Martel. Four years had passed since his promotion, the only good thing that really spawned from the blood he has spilled was that his skills become spread throughout the lands; due to that. Lloyd had his own minor legend floating around now about how great he was—most of the stories were fictitious but they worked—and that has led to many unconverted villages willing to peacefully negotiate a conversion to the Church of Martel and cast aside their old ways of life to embrace a new, brighter and prosperous future…at least that is what Lloyd was told to convince others. The war times were over…but now his dreams were stained, soaked in the blood he had spilled in the name of the church.

Colette never believed in the war and she never wished for people to be forced to conform to their ways of life; however she was also quite innocent minded and naive in many ways. The newly appointed counsel to the chosen were convincing her to leave the decisions to them and they would aid in doing what is right for the lands. Colette lacked the strength of voice to say no and Lloyd knew that. Colette served as nothing more than a symbol that the counsel used to justify their actions and make the people of the kingdom agree. Lloyd knew that the counsel only served themselves and the king. He tried many times to tell Colette the truth but she would smile it off and change the topic; she was never much for any serious confrontations.

Chosen were born very rare, once every several generations, and when they were born, they were considered to be the top of power over the lands, in the absence of a chosen than the duties to rule fall onto the royal family; however, the royal family still had to be careful what they did with their power whereas the chosen always had the complete and undivided devotion of the people since the chosen was seen as the child of the Goddess Martel.

"How have you been?" Lloyd asked passively, keeping a reassuring smile to keep the chosen at ease.

"I have been fine, Lloyd…a little lonely here without you." Colette confessed as she cast her sky-blue eyes to the ground at a side glance. "I miss the days you used to always be at my side."

"I know Colette…I do too." Lloyd spoke as he extended his hand, letting the chosen take his hand in both of hers, she held onto it with a smile. "These conversions have required all my attention as of late…and I know you have your duties to tend to as the chosen." Lloyd nodded.

"I did not ask for this, Lloyd." Colette frowned slightly. "I did not grow up wishing I would become a holy ruler."

"But you knew your entire life that this would happen eventually." Lloyd responded.

"You know I wanted you to be on my counsel though." Colette reminded.

"I know you did and I know the counsel advised heavily against it because I know nothing of how the world worked or politics." Lloyd nodded once, he was too young to know how the world worked back then…but his eyes were wide open now to the darker side of politics.

"You are wiser now, I can bring you in again…and I won't be lonely anymore…and you won't be haunted by such awful memories anymore." Colette desperately spoke, rubbing his hand lightly.

"That is quite selfish though, isn't it Chosen?" Lloyd whispered lightly.

"What do you mean?" Colette spoke; her eyes widened in surprise at his response to her.

"My very image is what could stop more blood from spilling onto the grounds during these dark times of conversion. By taking me away, we could start a war with the next village we try to convert." Lloyd confessed, knowing what he says to be true…the Church of Martel used him like a pawn to strike fear into the hearts of potential enemies.

"I can…stop these conversions." Colette spoke in a weakened, whispered tone.

Lloyd gave the beautiful woman a comforting smile as he rubbed his thumb along her fingers lightly. "No, Colette…you won't…you can't…the counsel would not stand for it." Lloyd replied using a tone of comfort.

"I…" Colette tried to speak, words were robbed from her however as she lowered her head.

`"We both have something we need to be doing." Lloyd nodded.

"I…don't want to do this anymore…I haven't for years." Colette confessed.

"Chosen!" called a voice from the distance.

Both sets of eyes looked off to the side to see Colette's usual group of bodyguards starting to walk towards her. Lloyd always considered them to be the counsel's eyes when the counsel was not around to keep tabs on her themselves. They tried to act like her shadow and follow her everywhere she went so they could dictate what she does with her time.

"Chosen please, you have urgent duties to tend to." One of the guards spoke.

"But…I was…" Colette spoke softly.

"This is a matter of importance…we insist." The guard spoke as he extended his arm in an inviting manner for Colette to take her leave and come with them.

Colette looked over to Lloyd in silent desperation but was only met with Lloyd looking to her and then letting out a deep breath as his brown eyes glanced down to his glass. Colette slipped her fingers from his hand as she folded them over her lap, closing her eyes she turned and let the guards guide her to her next location where she was needed to be.

"Commander Irving, might I suggest you report to Grand Cardinal Wilder." The guard said in a firm tone, taking a tone of demand more than advising.

"What?" Lloyd blinked as he lifted the glass to his lips. "You actually taking a tone with me?" Lloyd felt the aura of commander start to manifest when a such a tone was taken with him from a man who just took Colette away from him.

"Not at all, sir, it would just be safe to assume that you need to be focusing on the problems of our present then taking up time that the Chosen cannot spare." The guard sharply stated.

"I would watch—" Lloyd started before the guard lifted his hand up in a manner of wishing for silence as well as submission.

"Report to Grand Cardinal Wilder—Now, sir." The guard demanded passively before turning around and walking down the hallways so he could catch up with the rest of his group.

Lloyd narrowed his eyes slightly before downing the rest of his glass and semi-slamming the glass onto the table. A slight discontent sneer curving Lloyd's lip before scooping up his swords and sliding them into their respective spots at his sides and turning around to walk towards the Grand Cardinal's room.

This was the last thing that Lloyd wanted to do; he had no wish to spend his day in the company of the Grand Cardinal and his bratty, spoiled son Zelos Wilder.

-Later on in the day-

Lloyd walked down the stairs that led away from the Church after spending hours in the presence of the Grand Cardinal, the meeting was droll as he predicted and proved to be a complete waste of his time. As if enduring the Grand Cardinal was not enough, now he was stuck with his adolescent son, Zelos.

"So what is it like?" Zelos wondered openly.

"What is what like?" Lloyd huffed out while he continued walking at a brisk pace.

"Oh don't be coy with me." Zelos chuckled as he jumped down the steps, two steps at a time. "What was it like dealing with savage people?"

The very word of savage made Lloyd stop in his footsteps, causing the young man to crash lightly into his shoulder but Lloyd's body did not give as Zelos took two steps back while Lloyd half turned around to meet with Commander Wilder, his eyes serious. "They are not savage, Zelos, they speak just fine and are perfectly humane with the rest of the world." Lloyd defended, his voice started to falter when he spoke the next phrase. "They live their lives just as we do and respect each other like any civilization would; they…have…families…like everyone else would." Lloyd felt a flash of a memory haunt him as he shook his head and cleared his throat. "There is nothing…savage about them, you got me?"

"Ok ok, geez…" Zelos lifted his hands.

Lloyd let out a sigh; just as he was about to turn, something caught his eyes as he glanced up to look at the church and there he saw Colette looking down at him from a window high up, she gave a weak smile while placing her hand against the window…she was worried about his latest assignment. Lloyd gave her a subtle reassuring nod before turning around and continuing his walk down the stairs.

"So then…you think we will have to fight these sa—er—non-enlightened people?" Zelos corrected himself before he found himself prey to another verbal beat down.

"I don't think so…there has not been any fighting for years." Lloyd admitted.

"So than why are they sending you all the time? There has to be some fighting happening." Zelos commented, referring to the minor legends that Lloyd had started; it was not so much legends as more along the lines of renown.

"For fear," Lloyd shrugged causally.

"For fear? What does that mean?" Zelos frowned while trailing behind his fellow commander.

"They use my image to strike fear and rob people of their will to fight…that is all." Lloyd stated in a low tone.

"Yeah yeah," Zelos waved off before feeling another surge of energy. "But do you know where we are going? Who we could be facing? The feared Igaguri Fujibayashi…you know about him?" Zelos asked aloud.

"Yes…I do." Lloyd groaned out in a slightly irritated manner.

Little did Zelos know, Lloyd actually admired Igaguri Fujibayashi, he was a master of the double sword combat and that is one of the things that started Lloyd into practising such a combat style. Igaguri was a famed warrior who never once knew what defeat was and proudly defended his people. The Chruch spent years trying to find his location and even tried to convince villages to reveal his home to them, after assimilation into their culture, these villages refused to reveal the location of Igaguri's and his peoples location. It was only recently that they discovered the rough location of the village; it was located somewhere beyond the cursed trees called Gaoracchia Forest. Igaguri was considered to be a man of honour, wisdom, valour and strength. Lloyd had done his fair share of study on him with the limited resources they had available. Lloyd knew one thing...this man was would be a man he hoped to spend time learning from and learning about on a more personal level.

"Imagine, fighting the legend himself…you know what lore says about him?" Zelos continued to ask in a relentless yet cheerful manner.

"I know everything there is to know about the man." Lloyd retorted in an irritated tone.

"They say he fought off 100 men alone and won." Zelos pointed out.

"Right…and they say I stared down a tribe of cannibal savages and brought the divine wrath of Martel down on them, felling them in a single instant." Lloyd countered as he continued his brisk pace, the footsteps of Zelos actually stopped when he said that.

"Wait…you saying that didn't happen?" Zelos asked in a bewildered tone.

"Just be careful what you believe." Lloyd called out.

Lloyd continued to walk through the streets, glancing once more his shoulder to watch as Zelos gave a nod and ran after his fellow commander. Eventually Lloyd came to the front gates where he expected to find his usual contingent of trustworthy soldiers available to him but instead found himself with full company awaiting him.

"What is this?" Lloyd asked in a low tone.

"What is what? These are our men." Zelos replied

"What happened to my men? Why are we bringing a a force of this size into a forest? Why did the Grand Cardinal not inform me of this change? It is like we are going in expecting to fight." Lloyd commented causally as he looked to the soldiers at his command, they were roughly measured at 250 men battle ready standing at attention as they waited for the word to move out.

"Well…we are going to confront Igaguri Fujibayashi." Zelos answered, avoiding the rest of the questions, be it on purpose or not remained to be seen.

"No…we're not going to confront him, we are trying to make contact with the man. There is an obvious difference between the two…this might just provoke him." Lloyd replied with an uneasy edge to his voice.

"You can try and take it up with my father," Zelos pointed out.

"Forget it…his skull is about as thick as you are annoying." Lloyd sighed out as he walked over to the men that he was given, they all stood at attention and it was his job to see how ready they were.

"Ha-ha yeah, that about sums it up—hey wait." Zelos blinked as he looked up in thought.

'None of these men look ready for battle, half of these men look like they might just freeze on the spot. Very few have the feel of experience. If I did not know any better I would think this might have been on purpose to provoke a fight and get me killed.' Lloyd observed as he looked from one set of eyes to the next.

Lloyd was not sure these soldiers were up to the task of travelling through the Gaoracchia Forest and if his instincts served correct and he thought that maybe Igaguri Fujibayashi might be provoked from such a mass size company walking onto his lands, then he had a feeling these soldiers would be sure to fall in the battle.

Sadly, his advice meant next to nothing to the counsel or the Grand Cardinal, so with his orders given Lloyd had to march on…his destination was hopefully going to Mizuho.

Mizuho was one of the last standing villages that held onto their old ways of life and refused the Church of Martel, when given the proposition to assimilate with the rest, Mizuho cut off ties with the royal family and the church, branding themselves as outcasts. Now they stood as a symbol of the last resistence to the church and these proud people were led by the former war-hero Igaguri Fujibayashi.

-Inside the Church-

Colette look out of the window as she let out a soft, worried sigh while her eyes gazed to the front gates of Meltokio, watching the company of soldiers that included Lloyd, move out of the city.

She had a sinking feeling in her chest that she could not ignore, like this would be the last time she would see Lloyd Irving; placing her hand once more against the window she closed her eyes and tried to calm her beating heart.

'Please…return Lloyd.' She thought to herself, combating the grim feeling she felt deep inside.