Um, hi. I still don't own Tales of Symphonia. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing a fan fiction, I'd be making a game.
A week had passed by since Yuan had come into service under his new master, and already he was bored, angry, and wishing for anything to interrupt the schedule. Every morning Yuan had to get up early in the morning and make sure that Kratos had a warm bath ready when he woke up. When Kratos finally did get up Yuan had to lay clothes out for him then head down stairs to make him breakfast, and then pack him a lunch for school.
School. School was probably the most boring part of Yuan's day. After Kratos was up and had eaten his breakfast, he and Yuan set off to the schoolhouse. Kratos always crept along like some tiny animal being hunted; however nothing of interest had happened yet. When they were finally at the school Yuan was forced to wait outside with a couple other half elves who were in similar predicaments. Yuan found it interesting that the humans were so afraid of the half elves learning anything. The idea seemed to be to keep them stupid. And so Yuan sat there for six hours straight ( Kratos stayed inside reading during recess). After school Kratos and Yuan trudged back the way they came, and once again Yuan would sit as Kratos spent his afternoon reading and doing homework. After dinner Yuan was free to go to sit in his quarters and do nothing. After a week of this ( Kratos spent his weekends in his little office drawing and reading) Yuan was fed up.
So one night instead of going to his quarters he went back down to the shack down by the edge of the woods. The shouting he heard as he approached the shack was music to his ears, with out any hesitation Yuan flung the door open and let the sounds and sights wash over him.
"Hey! Look everyone Yuan is back." A chorus of questions greeted Yuan as he was hurried in, patted on the back, and passed many drinks few of which he knew what they were.
" How is it up there?"
"Why are you back?"
"Look how clean he is."
" Wait a second guys! I'll tell you everything. But then I've got a request," And so Yuan launched into a slightly exaggerated story of what had happened since he had gone up to the house. The boys listened in rapt attention hanging on every words and only talking every once in while to say how bad it must have been. Yuan was enjoying himself immensely by the time he reached the end of his story.
" And here's where I need your help. I think we need to teach the little pussy boy a lesson. I want you guys to wait right off the road and jump him when we walk home from school tomorrow." This was met with a sudden explosion of talking amongst the group, until they were silenced by the oldest boy.
" Do you know what you're asking us t' do? We'd all have to skip off work, and sneak down and attack the son of some guy who has control of our entire lives."
" Aw c'mon. Kratos won't tell on you, not if you threaten him a little, and you could leave some guys behind to start a diversion or something." Yuan said trying desperately to sell his idea.
" We was gonna agree to it anyway." The oldest boy laughed, and everyone else began to laugh to. Grinning, Yuan got to his feet and bowed himself dramatically out the door. With the cheers and laughter behind him Yuan snuck back up to the house.
It was perfect, with Kratos afraid of him he'd have a bit more control of his life.
The next day Yuan went through his morning chores in a considerably good mood. His plan was in motion, and the next day he'd be master of his own destiny. However he was in such a good mood he forgot to pack a lunch and Kratos and he were well on their way through town, before either one noticed.
" So, um, slave, er, Yuan. What did you pack me for lunch?" Kratos asked. He always seemed both scared to talk to Yuan and scared to walk in silence.
" Oh, shit…" Yuan swore realizing his mistake. Kratos gasped at Yuan's language and stopped dead.
"You shouldn't swear…"
" I don't care about swearing! I forgot your stupid lunch." Yuan shouted.
" Oh. Well, that's okay! I have some money here you can go buy me lunch at a store." Kratos pulled a wad of money out of his pocket and began thumbing through it.
" No wonder you get attacked, idiot! You go waving that much money around some one's bound to take it!" Yuan whispered harshly, grabbing Kratos' wrist. "Where'd you get that anyway?"
" … It's my allowance…But here is 500 gald, get me, um, an apple, a roll, some milk and some cheese. That should be more than enough money, I'll get the food and change at recess." Kratos said handing the money over to Yuan. " Oh, I've got to go the bell will ring any minute!" With that Kratos turned and left. Yuan headed off in the other direction towards the stores.
" For some one so scared he's awful trusting," Yuan muttered to himself, as he looked around for a store that looked like it sold food. Finally he noticed a store which people were leaving laden with food. Yuan stepped inside nervously, aware of the man at the counter watching his every move. Yuan looked around and noticed most of the food was in bins marked with prices, and realized to his dismay that he couldn't read them. He gathered up all the items Kratos had asked for and brought them up to the counter.
" How much is this stuff?" Yuan asked dropping it all in front of him. The man looked down at Yuan with a great deal of disgust. Yuan glared back up at the man, letting his own hatred be known to this stupid human.
" Oi! Slave! Come deal with this brat, he's your kind." The man called over to a half elf who was sweeping the store. With a sigh the half elf made his way over to the counter.
" What do you want kid?" He asked, as the other man went away.
" How much is this stuff?" Yuan repeated happy to have a half elf to talk to. Back at his home no one could really read, people had just been honest about prices, he was sure he would have no problem with this man. " Is this enough?" Yuan smacked his money down on the table.
The half elf's eyes grew bright, but then suddenly he looked very sad.
" I'm sorry kid. It's a little under." He gave Yuan a little pat on the head.
" Oh…" Yuan was confused, Kratos had said it would be more than enough. Perhaps Kratos got discounts because his dad was important.
" But you know what kid, I'll let you have it for what you have right there. I can take the heat for the missing money." The half elf smiled at Yuan and began putting the food in brown paper bag.
" Wow! Really? Thanks a lot!" Yuan took the bag and left the building happily, he knew that half elves were better folk than humans.
Kratos was having a good time in school, they were leaning about the war and how it started. Apparently the half elves were fighting back because they thought they were equal to humans. That seemed pretty silly to Kratos. It was obvious humans were better, everyone said so, well except for the half elves but they were half elves and didn't matter. He couldn't wait for recess though, he was hungry after missing lunch and couldn't wait for his food. Finally the teacher rang the bell for recess and all the children (even Kratos) went outside. Cheerfully Kratos walked to the back of the school where the half elves stayed.
" Um, Yuan?" Kratos said quietly when he reached the back of the school. The other half elves looked scary and Kratos didn't want to get to close. Yuan let out a deep sigh and than walked slowly over to Kratos. Kratos grabbed Yuan's arm and pulled him over to an empty place on the playground. Yuan sighed again, just as deeply as before and handed him a brown paper bag. Yuan watched as Kratos opened it and greedily and shoved the roll into his mouth. Kratos searched the bag carefully looking for the left over money.
"Yuan! There's no money in here! Where is it?" Kratos looked up at Yuan trying to search his face for answers, Yuan just stared back looking just as confused as Kratos.
" The man at the store said that's how much it was!" Yuan shouted in exasperation.
"Then he lied!" Kratos shouted, after which he became rather shocked with himself and covered his mouth. More quietly he added, " There is a set price on food because of the war. These items should cost about…240 gald."
" Why didn't you tell me that?" Yuan growled through his teeth. He was upset that the half elf had lied to him. They were kinsmen, why should he lie?
" It never occurred to me you wouldn't bother to read the signs," Kratos said, he was becoming whiny and frustrated with the whole situation.
" What made you think I could read?" Kratos was stunned. He had never in his life stopped to consider whether or not the slaves could read. He'd just assumed they could.
" It's alright, never mind. Let's not make a fuss. It will just cause problems for the store man" Kratos took his food from Yuan and walked back into the school house, he had a lot to think about. However, before he went about his thoughts he wanted to get his facts straight so he went to his teacher.
"Um, ma'am? Can any half elves read?"
" What? Oh, Kratos! Well, let's see. Some half elves learn to read before they are captured but not majority. They are mostly poor and the children have to help work. As slaves they cannot learn, it is illegal to teach a slave to read. Does that answer your question?" Kratos nodded, but in truth she had given him more to think about than before. A lot of questions that could not be answered by books.
"Dammit." Yuan swore to himself as he waited outside the schoolhouse for Kratos. Kratos was taking his time and most everyone was gone. Yuan's thoughts wandered to the boys who would be waiting for he and Kratos as they reaches home. Would they be mad if he were late? Eventually the door opened and Kratos appeared, he stepped out slowly and gulped.
" Yuan would you please follow me around back?"
" Sure," Yuan said, confused. Kratos was acting stranger than normal. His eyes were extra shifty looking around, not as if he would be wronged, but as if he, himself was guilty. As they reached the back Kratos grabbed Yuan's wrist and pulled him up close. Then very quietly so that Yuan could barely hear he said:
" Do you want me to teach you to read?"
If Yuan had been expecting anything it wasn't that. A hoard of thoughts came into his head. Finally he settled on one question.
" Do you know what your doing? That's illegal! You could get your self, or your father, in serious trouble."
" I know," Yuan was amazed at Kratos's bravery. How strange that some one so frightened would take such a risk.
"…but why?"
"Because, reading is one of my favorite things in life. I don't think anyone should be denied the ability. I can't teach everyone, but I can at least teach you." Kratos looked up at Yuan with a strange determination in his eyes. Although he was often indecisive, now that he had made up his mind he would not falter. Yuan was taken aback. How could he put himself into Kratos's dept like that? Why did he need to read? Why did he want to read? Why was Kratos being so damn nice? The second two questions were easy. He needed to read and wanted to read because he wanted to get ahead, because he wanted not be taken advantage of. But the other questions seemed impossible to answer. And suddenly he remembered that he had set a trap for the very person that was showing him such kindness.
"I'm not sure, can I, um think about it?" Yuan asked, and for the first time it actually seemed as if Kratos was in control.
" Yes," Kratos nodded and the two started walking back home in silence each with a head full of thoughts.
That is the second chapter.
In case you care, 240 gald is the price for all those items in the game. No, I didn't factor in the cost of inflation over 4,000 years time. Infact they probably wouldn't even use gald…
shut up…
