AN: Hello, this is the first time I've attempted a Zelos/Lloyd, but not the first time I've done a shonen-ai. Basically, I decided there weren't enough good Zelloyd fanfictions out there so I'm writing my own. It may take awhile to update, but I'll try my best, kay?
Warnings: Future Shonen-ai, slavery/servant themes, AU, and other stuff I can't remember.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Tales of Symphonia. It is all owned by Namco, who I hope will be coming out with a sequel.
Prologue
Meltokio was a place ruled by the noble class. The king might as well have no say at all, because the nobles influence every decision. The noble area of Meltokio is absolutely off-limits to all peasants, unless their line of work requires them to do so. All peasants have to work, while the nobles play all day long. A new law has been reinstated, claiming that if peasants merely looked a noble in the eye, the noble could claim them as their servant. But they might as well been considered a slave because they were not paid and they could not leave or do anything unless their master told them to. A 'servant' is only free if the noble deems it so. Servants are not seen out in public without their masters unless they have a special pass given to them.
Lloyd is the son of Kratos Aurion, a worker at the coliseum. He is an upstanding member of the peasant class, often recognized by the nobles. Many consider him to be knighted soon, therefore being admitted to the noble class.
Lloyd is a delivery boy for the town post office. Everything of importance: packages, documents, letters, and such, to the nobles he delivers and he was therefore given a special pass to enter the noble area.
He is friends with many people in the town. His friend Genis, an apprentice magician once aspiring to be a part of the army of Meltokio, fell in love with Presea, a woodcutter from Ozette who was currently in the service of the noble Regal Bryant. She chose to do this of her own volition, taking her sister's place after her tragic death. So in love he was that Genis abandoned his apprenticeship and left to work in the Bryant family also.
Raine, Genis's older sister and fellow half-elf, disagreed with her brother's choice. She, enslaved in the Elemental Research Laboratory of Meltokio, hoped that one day her son would obtain enough power to free her, yet she knew that Genis had to make his own decisions. Perhaps, she thought, if Kratos were to become a noble, as it seemed very likely that he would, then he would free her.
Collete, his childhood crush, was a maid in the palace. He saw her often during his routine palace deliveries. She was a bit ditzy, but loved her work and did her utmost to keep her job.
Sheena, a noble from Mizuho, often talked with Lloyd who she had become good friends with after his periodic deliveries. While at first it was difficult to carry on conversations with that ridiculous law in place, Sheena soon disregarded this and allowed Lloyd to look her in the eyes when they talked. Of course this practice couldn't be carried out in public, for prying eyes would get them both into a mountain of trouble.
Zelos is an elite noble, second only to the King in power. His family was chosen long ago as representatives of the church. Because of this, all their marriage had been arranged to keep the line going, and Zelos was of course no exception. Zelos had been promised to Sheena Fujibayashi, the aforementioned noble from Mizuho. Sheena though had forever despised Zelos and although Zelos respectfully acknowledged her for her endowments, he too could not stand her.
Secretly, Zelos was a noble who loved to defy the law as much as he loved to sully the innocence of poor girls. Therefore, he had no remorse for doing something against the law. After all, his choices are usually made on a whim without even considering the consequences. And why should he have developed something like caution if all his life he could use his family's influence to hide his habitual pursuits?
Zelos's mother died when he was very young, killed by a half elf. Since then, he has forever held a grudge against the half-elf population. He had even helped the laws against the half-elves to come into existence. She had originally been chosen by the church to marry Zelos's father, just as Sheena had been chosen to marry Zelos. Apparently, Zelos's father either didn't mesh well with his mother or was the person Zelos inherited his debauchery related pursuits for he soon produced another child, Seles, with the mother of a half elf. Seles is Zelos's half-sister and they resent each other. Seles, for Zelos being the chose of the church and Zelos for Seles's plan to become the chosen, which resulted in his mother's death. She was then sent away, to an abbey off the coast of the Toize Valley Mine, run by Regal's company stationed in Altamira.
It is with this set of systems and relations that our story begins...