Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. It belongs to the fine folks at Namco.

A/N: AU fic. This came partially out of frustration because there are no Forcystus fanfics, partially because of a quote from ToS and because I love the "what if"'s. Be warned lots of spoilers. I mean it's about Cruxis and Desians afterall.

The last chapter was short so this one is long. I can't always be consistent after all.

The four half elves will be recurring for at least three more chapters. They are named for the four types of true elves in Norse mythology: the muntaelfin (mountain elf), landaelfin (field elf), saeaelfin (water nymph) and wuduaelfin (forest elf). Research makes naming easier.

Also I have to stress that there are only three more chapters with Lloyd at the ranch. If anyone has any requests that will fit in with this plotline, I hope you will support them.

The Good Aurion
Chapter XXV: For Old Time's Sake

"So you actually got into a fight with Beylo?"

Lloyd groaned as he looked over at Forcystus who was taking more than enough joy in the idea. "I didn't think you wanted me to fight with the other Cruxians."

Forcystus smiled. "Did you know that Beylo is seventeen, too?"

Lloyd frowned. Why were older people so hard to understand? First, he tells him not to fight but now it's fine and now this. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Forcystus grinned. "A lot. Two young swordsmen fighting out in the yard and not with swords. It has nothing to do with who's a half elf and everything to do with how old you are."

"What are you talking about, Forcystus?"

Forcystus laughed. "Young men around the same age always form friendly rivalries."

"He didn't seem very friendly to me."

"It isn't about you, Lloyd. He's just trying to prove something and you happen to be his only age."

Lloyd thought for a moment. Maybe the encounter for once wasn't about race and was about being a young man trying to prove something. He had felt a need to prove himself and that he wasn't a child to Cruxis. Maybe Beylo was trying to prove that he was someone and Lloyd happened to be the closest target in distance and age.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you two end up friends one day." Forcystus said and cocked his head. "Actually I had a similar experience. Do you want to meet them?"

Lloyd furrowed his brow. "You have a rival here?"

"They aren't my rivals anymore. They used to be when I was a mercenary. We were all

mercenaries at the time. We're good friends now. Do you want to meet them?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, I didn't know you had friends near from before you joined Cruxis."

Forcystus smiled and lead him out of the hallway and outside to yard on the west side of the ranch. It was evening and the sun was the verge of setting making the yard appear a shade of orange. It was facing toward Iselia and you could actually see the village from the door to the yard. The hill beyond the fence sloped sharply and though some trees managed to cling to the incline, it was almost a clear view of the village.

"At ease for a moment. I'd like you to meet the human you've been hearing so much about."

Several desians turned and smiled as they saw Forcystus. "So you finally decided to stop hiding him."

"I was not hiding him. I was... averting attention." Forcystus turned to Lloyd and smiled. "Lloyd, these are the four that came with me when I was assigned to Grand Cardinal. They were the half elves that followed me when I gained my title. They're Munt, Landta, Saeae and Wudun."

"I'm always last." Wudun said irritably and crossed his arms to sulk.

"Maybe you should try to whine less. Forcystus seems to like it." Munt said and grinned showing large and pointed teeth.

Forcystus laughed and Lloyd smiled as he looked at the four. They had by this point taken off their helmets and pulled down their hoods. They weren't as old as say Kvar but they beyond human years. Most seemed to be older than Forcystus except perhaps for Wudun. Munt was the stockiest of the four and looked almost Dwarven in posture and built. He was the elf he had seen Forcystus talking with at lunch. He had dark red eyes and brown hair. His ears were small like Forcystus hiding in his mane of hair. He was also riddled with scars all across his face and his nose looked as though it had been broken at least twice and poorly placed medically. Next to him stood Landta who was tall and thin with pale blond hair and blue eyes. He had the long large ears typical of pureblood elves and a small thin scar across his nose between his eyes. Beside Landta was Saeae who was also thin but shorter than Landta. He looked to be the oldest out all of them but had a pressence of dignity and retained an appearance of youth. His hair and eyes were both a matching shade of blue that wasn't far from Lord Yuan in shade and hue. His ears were long as well but followed the form of his face upward like Kvar. He also had a pointed beard much like pureblood elves that seemed to be cut and managed regularly. Finally was the youngest Wudun. He was young looking and handsome with slender feature. He was around the same height as Lloyd give or take which seemed to about the norm in the ranch. His hair was a shade of green and his eyes were almost a lavender. His ears weren't visible and from the way his hair fell were most likely small and close to his head.

"Is it true Forcystus? Is he really the son of Kratos?" Landta asked calmly. The half elf didn't seem the type to get excited about much of anything.

"Yes, a lot of rumors have been floating around and..." Saeae paused discertingly. "...we thought it best if we heard it from you and not from the local riffraff."

Forcystus smiled. "Yes, he is."

Wudun piped in. "What about him being pure human? He smells it but..."

"Yes he is. He's pure human but don't bother him. We don't have anything to worry about from Lloyd."

The four nodded and seemed to set any preconceived notions aside. The four seemed to go to Forcystus instead of forming their own ideas. They were dependant on him more than most of the ranch. "Did you join Cruxis because of Forcystus?"

Forcystus shot Lloyd a look. "Don't be so nosy, Lloyd. That's none of your business."

"It's no problem, Forcystus. The boy's just curious." Munt said calmly. "I don't consider myself part of Cruxis. I follow Forcystus. If he were to secede, I'd follow him. I followed him here."

The others nodded. "Cruxis follows Forcystus's ideals and so do we. If they didn't, I wouldn't either. I'm not interested in group alliances." Saeae stated.

It seemed strange to Lloyd. How could someone not follow Cruxis and only follow Forcystus? Cruxis was huge and organized. Individuals made mistakes and following him completely was dangerous. What if they made the wrong choices? You were trapped. Forcystus groaned to himself. "Stop it all ready. You're making the boy think that we're come kind of cult."

Landta grinned. "Are you blushing Forcystus?"

"No."

"I think you might be." Wudun smirked and turned to Lloyd. "Boy, I see you carry a sword. Did your father or Forcystus teach you?"

"My father taught me but Forcystus practiced with me."

"That's good. Forcystus is a terrible fencer." Saeae said as he smirked at a still slightly pink Forcystus.

Munt grinned revealing his pointed teeth again. "That's for sure. He can hardly hold my axe right."

Landta snorted and rolled his eyes. "You three could learn from Landta!" Forcystus barked.

"How to be a mime?" Wudun said cheerfully. "Or some type of living statue perhaps."

"Very amusing." Landta said irritably.

"We must really be annoying if we got him talking. He can usually stand around for days not saying a word." Munt said as he nudged Lloyd.

"I thought he had had a stroke once. He say anything after a week." Saeae commented. "I was thinking about taking him to the healers but he kicked me in the face when I tried to carry him off."

"I have the best story!" Wudun piped in.

"Don't you always." Saeae said sarcastically.

"I was bunking with him way back almost fifty years ago and you all know how he's so quiet when he sleeps. Well I was sure he was dead..."

"And."

"And. I thought he was dead. DEAD!"

"Fascinating." Saeae smiled and turned to Lloyd. "Forcystus how about you have a little sparring match with the boy. I'd like to see how good your student is."

Forcystus snorted. "He's not show piece for all of you. I just wanted you to meet him."

Munt piped in. "Come now, Forcystus! I'm sure the boy won't mind. Besides its boring out here."

Forcystus sighed and turned to Lloyd. "If you don't want to, you don't have to."

Lloyd grinned. "I don't mind. Besides I want to show them what my swords can do."

Forcystus rolled his good eye. "Fine." He turned to the four. "I guess we're going to have a match."

"Good, I'd like to see what he can do." Wudun said as he sat down on the dusty ground of the courtyard.

Lloyd frowned at the youngest of four. He didn't like being gawked at by the four of them. They seemed to think that he was something brought to entertain them. Forcystus seemed to feel the same way and didn't like how the introduction had been taking as Forcystus bringing them a human to be entertained by. Lloyd smiled and turned to Forcystus. "I guess I should show them that I'm not a circus monkey."

Forcystus smiled and turned away from Lloyd walking a short distance across the courtyard.

Lloyd stepped back a little and stood up straight. Both Kratos and Forcystus had stressed the

importance of sparring and duel etiquette. The two opponents were to square off from each other at a distance that would prevent either from making any unsavory moves, not that it was a problem in this case but traditionally duels were not among friends but enemies, the two were to face one another, bow and a start was clearly announced. Lloyd removed his swords as he turned facing Forcystus. Forcystus on the other hand was pushing some of the buttons on this cannon. Lloyd wasn't sure what he was doing with it exactly. He had never seen Forcystus adjust it before. He was done shortly and stood facing Lloyd a few meters away.

Saeae was leaning up against Landta who was standing up straight trying to ignore the older half elf. The blue haired elf's elbow rested on Landta's shoulder and one of his legs were crossed over the other as he leaned to the side against the taller elf. "Who should declare the match?" He said with a mischievous grin.

Wudun shrugged his shoulders as he sat slouching forward on the ground. "Don't look at me."

"How about you Landta, interested in being useful?" He said turning to the other elf whose face was no more than inches away from his own. Landta shot him an extremely irritated glare that clearly stated that he was pushing his luck with him and to stop. "Well then." Saeae said turning away nervously but not surrendering his leaning support. "Munt?"

Munt snorted. "All right! All right!" He said and walked over to the two duelists. "Bow to your opponent." Forcystus and Lloyd lowered their arms to their sides and bowed low to one another then rose back to their erect posture slowly. "Ready... set," Forcystus anchored himself and rose his canon as Lloyd got into his stance. "Go!"

Lloyd charged at him. He didn't want the four half elves to think that he was afraid of Forcystus. He wanted them to know that he could hold his own. Forcystus didn't give him much of a chance though. He blocked his slash with his canon and shot a burst of wind from his good hand sending Lloyd tumbling backward. His body did somersaults hitting his head several times. He could hear the four half elves behind him whistling, hollering and clapping. The move had been stupid. Forcystus knew he would act brash in front of a crowd and took advantage of it.

"Lloyd?" Forcystus asked from across the field. He had a ring of concern and seemed to be worried that he had used too much force against the young human.

Lloyd sprung to his feet and charged again straight ahead toward Forcystus. The half elf prepared to guard with his canon but foot away from him he leapt straight into the air. Forcystus paused for a moment then looked up quickly. Lloyd knew he wouldn't expect it. He had faked the half elf out with the false assault and began to use the time in the air to charge his swords. As far as Lloyd was concerned, this wasn't a duel between a human and a half elf but one between two of the same race and the best way to prove to the half elves that he wasn't a human was magic. It was what separated us from them and he was going to be us. "WINDBLADE!"

Forcystus put up to shield but it was too late to block the full power of the blow. The older man tumbled backward the same way Lloyd had. Lloyd smiled as he stood but stopped quickly when

he saw the four's faces. All had drawn their weapons and seemed ready to attack. Forcystus by then was on his feet. "Stand down."

"What kind of game are you playing!?" Saeae snarled.

"He's no human..." Wudun hissed quietly as he gripped his dagger tightly in his right hand.

"I said stand down!"

"But Forcystus?!" Munt barked as he held his large axe in front of his torso.

"I said stand down! This is a duel and I want no disruptions. You wanted to see what the boy is made of and you are! I don't want you whining about what is!!"

The four half elves lowered their weapons but still eyed Lloyd eerily. He catch Saeae mutter if Forcystus knew 'what he was.' Lloyd felt the pit of his stomach fall out as the stares bore into him. "Forcystus?"

Forcystus turned his face away from them for a moment and told him quietly. "Don't mind them. Just focus on the match. They're mind their place."

Lloyd didn't stop looking over at the four for another long minute. Forcystus's reassurance didn't do much to quell his anxiety. He knew that Forcystus was able to restrain them. They wouldn't physically attack him, they had too much respect for Forcystus to defy him so blatantly. They weren't going to let up in other ways though.

"Lloyd."

Lloyd snapped out of it and turned back to the half elf. He got back into stance and the duel continued. This time Forcystus attacked first charging directly at Lloyd. Lloyd knew that it was a sympathy charge. Forcystus was trying to Lloyd a good hit in to regain some confidence. However it didn't pane out that way. Even with the sloppy assault, Lloyd was too distracted by the stares of the four half elves to make any maneuver and when swung at him it was too late to do anything. The metal arm hit him on the side of head sending the young swordsman flying to the ground. Forcystus panicked for a moment and rushed to Lloyd to see if the swordsman was all right. He wasn't hurt badly at all besides what he knew would be a worse headache later.

The match didn't pick up much from there either. Every time Lloyd did get a hit in, the half elves booed and seemed to grow irate. It was impossible for the young swordsman to focus. Forcystus knew it. "Lloyd, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with." He said never changing his gaze from the corner of this eye at the four.

Forcystus stepped away from the young human and turned to the four half elves. "I don't think anyone is enjoying this." He said, turned away walking back toward the ranch and gesturing Lloyd to follow.

Lloyd was puzzled and turned to the four who seemed to be ashamed of themselves. He knew that they didn't feel that way because of their behavior toward Lloyd. It was because they had upset Forcystus. Lloyd turned away and rushed over to the half elf.

"They're acting like a bunch of idiots. I told them not to mind you. I told them you weren't a threat."

Lloyd walked beside him quietly as they made their way through the halls toward their room. Forcystus was furious about the outcome and Lloyd didn't feel much like talking.

"Lord Forcystus!"

The half elf turned. A foot soldier standing in the adjacent hall. "What is it?"

"There is a message for you in control room four, sir."

"A message?" Forcystus repeated and walked off without another word to the foot soldier. Lloyd thanked the desian and followed behind closely. Control room four wasn't far from the entrance to the west side of the ranch. As he opened the control room door, Forcystus turned to Lloyd. "Go back to the room I'll be there soon."

"Lloyd," said a voice on the monitor making both of them jump.

Thank you for reading and remember to review.