AN: I had a dream last night. It inspired this story. I hope you enjoy. And yes this is an AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, but I do own a copy of the game.

In The City

Chapter 1: Life In The City

SPLASH! CREEEEEK! THUMP! CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK! VMMMMMMMMM. THUMP! CRASH! She had heard these sounds many times in her life, but this was to be the last time. Raine Sage sat in her seat in the giant crane that she operated. Sitting next to her was the only man she would ever want to be with, Kratos. They had known each other for as long as she could remember, and she remembered as far back as her early childhood. What had once been a simple, respectful, and purely intellectual friendship, had formed into a deep and lasting bond of love. Even that first night, after Anna, Kratos' first wife had died, their relationship had changed, for the better in both their opinions.

"Marry me," Kratos whispered in her ear.

"Are you serious?" Raine asked, shocked and pleased at the same moment.

"Yes," was his reply. "I love you Raine, and I want to be with you forever."

"Kratos, I love you too," she assured him. "But be realistic, we don't have enough money to be married, I can't do my job if we marry, and what would Lloyd think?"

"I have been saving up as much money as I could for a year now," Kratos stated to her. "I've already asked Lloyd how he would feel about this, and he is perfectly fine with it. And besides, he's wanted to change careers anyways and feels he's up for the task."

"He has been an exceptional student…" Raine pondered over this for a few moments, and finally when she could find no objections she gave her decision. "Yes, I'd love to!"

………………

"Which face should I play now?" Lloyd pondered as he checked his two cards again and looked at the cards in play. He had a two and a seven off suit, considered by many to be one of the worse hands possible in the game of Hold'em. On the table he saw a jack, an ace, and two fives, all in off suits. The River had yet to be drawn. He looked across the table at his opponent and smiled confidently and said, "Two coins."

The crowd gasped as he finished his brief sentence. Two coins in this city were like two hundred anywhere else. All eyes were on Zelos now. He eyed Lloyd carefully, and seemed to notice his bluff. "I'll call it," he replied coolly.

Lloyd would have panicked if he didn't understand the thinking of his opponent. Zelos Wilder was an arrogant fool if ever there had been one, but he was intelligent nonetheless. He liked to make crowds wherever he went, but he only did so to get lost in them. He understood money and it's every use. He had found ways to obtain it from nearly any source imaginable. He was cunning in every sense of the word. But he couldn't read a poker face even if it were in the form of a neatly written book.

And then came the River card, a two of hearts. And Lloyd now wore a genuine smile of victory on his face. He now had a hand that was nearly worth playing. He looked over to Zelos. He could see that Lloyd had something, but he couldn't tell what. "Another coin," Lloyd raised the stakes. This was higher than he could afford to go, and he knew it.

Zelos stared at Lloyd in disbelief. He was wagering a full weeks salary! "Fold," and he threw over his cards showing a pair of jacks in his hand.

Lloyd laughed as he showed Zelos what he was surrendering to. "A two and seven! Thanks for being gullible Zelos!" He picked the ten gold coins from the table and walked to his table. It truly was "Lloyd's Table," he had etched the words in himself with an old knife years ago.

"Good round Lloyd," Zelos chuckled as he sat down across from his friend. "But y'know, I only let you win so you could buy the drinks."

"Yeah, and Varhley's gonna donate his entire fortune to charity!" Lloyd broke down into tears of laughter at the shear foolishness of even dreaming of such a thing to happen.

"Did I miss something?" came the melodious voice that Lloyd could identify in an instant.

"Hey Sheena!" he said, drying his eyes. "Professor Smooth here is saying that he threw a game of Hold'em to me just to avoid buying the drinks!"

"Heh, bluff your way through again?" Sheena giggled. She sat down next to Lloyd and pecked him on the cheek. "So, are you buying?"

"Yup, I won!" he stated proudly. "Hey Regal, can I get three of the usual?

"Sorry Lloyd," came the voice from behind the kitchen. "We ran out of all our soup broth yesterday. Next shipment won't be in for another week. How about your number two though? We've got plenty milk."

"Sounds good." Sheena shouted back for Lloyd. "And can I have some Rice Balls?"

This was the way things worked most nights in the city. People wore fake smiles whenever they walked into a building where smiling was mandatory. It made them feel better, but it didn't last long enough for them to forget. They were prisoners here, in this city. They couldn't escape. All they could do was work and live for as long as they could, and eventually die. Happiness was hard to find for most people.

"Hi everyone!" came another familiar voice. "Here we go. A regular milk and rice balls for Sheena, a skim milk for Zelos, and Lloyd gets the extra tall chocolate milk for winning. He won again right?"

"He didn't win, I let him have the money," Zelos remarked, trying to save face.

"Oh really?" Colette asked, believing every word. "That's so nice of you Zelos!"

"Call it what you want Zelos, but you still folded," Lloyd stated, tarnishing what little pride Zelos had retained through his attempt.

As they continued to laugh throughout the jokes and banter, there suddenly came a loud BANG! It was shortly followed by another gunshot, and then… silence.

AN: And there you have it. That is chapter one. Now review please. Tell me what you thought of this opening chapter. I enjoyed writing this and I hope you liked it too. So until next time: The Shades of Blood and Time. Laters!