Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of it characters.

Path of Ascension

Chapter 3

Scene: Morning in the forest near the strange shrine.

The sunlight started to break through the woods and shine in the young swordsman's face forcing him to wake. Cracking open his eyes he felt oddly full of energy given the lack of food and now nonexistant desire to sleep in. Picking up his shirt that would no longer fit he got up and started to look for something to eat for breakfast. For the first hour or so he came up empty handed, but Lloyd being the stubborn teenager he is refused to quit and ventured deeper into the forest away from the shrine. After another hour of fruitless searching he stumbled across a village, but the people in this village all had pointy ears and seemed incredibly 'stiff'.

As Lloyd approached he figured he'd try to slip into this elf village and buy some new clothes until he could find someone qualified enough to tailor his favorite red shirt. Knowing he had no alternative but to enter shirtless, he did just that. A lot of the elves turned and blatantly stared at the youth making him feel very self-concious. While the elves did stare at him no one spoke a word once they caught site of the four-armed boy or approached him.

He moved towards one group of elves that back away a little before he asked, "Where can I get some clothes?" The elves pointed him to a hut just a few feet away never taking their eyes off of the boy. He thanked them as best he could before walking to the shop. Upon entering the shop he found the shop attendant to be a beatiful blonde elf. "She's cute. I hope I don't scare her.", he thought.

When the bell over the door rang alerting her to a potential customer she finished moving some items back into place before turning towards a boy...with four arms. She demonstrated excellent use of her lungs and nearly made Lloyd go deaf in the process.

Hearing the scream the elves of the village all charged to the shop intending to execute the strange man that entered their village. Upon barging into the door they found the four-armed boy holding covering his ears with one pair of hands and using the other pair to block objects being thrown at him while trying to calm her down. "Lady I'm not here to hurt you! I just want some clothes!"

The crowd grabbed the strange apparition and dragged him out into the the middle of the village. The crowd started to get restless and some of them attacked intending to 'teach' this freak a lesson. As the villagers started to fight him Lloyd quickly remembered the knowledge received from the voice and put it to use. At first he was able to block the villagers wild attacks, but after one particular elf cracked a the shaft of a broom across his back he lost his defense. The villagers started to get more violent even though the young man couldn't fight back.

The young elf from the shop couldn't stand watching this any longer and threw herself between the villagers and the strange boy. "What are you doing!", one villager shouted before two elves yanked her away trying to 'protect' her.

"No you don't understand!", she yelled into the crowd. The angry mob ignored her until she threw herself between them again and yelled, "He didn't hurt me or try to hurt me!" Hearing this the mob stopped their attacks and back away slightly given Lloyd room to breathe.

Lloyd now how cuts and bruises all over his body and his ribs really hurt where the mob had been kicking him while he was down. There was also a particularly nasty gash on the right side of his head at the hair line. He felt like Genis had hit him with a hundred "Stalagmites" and he knew these injuries would take atleast a week to heal.

The villagers parted as a figure moved through them towards the newcomer before demanding, "What is going on here!" The elves surrounding the elf looked away and at the ground rather than responding. Lloyd managed to look up and see a graying elf with simple green robes. The elder seemed furious at the entire crowd for the lack of response. The elder turned to Lloyd and the female elf to ask both, "Perhaps you two can tell me what this is about?"

Lloyd got the impression that while the elf was not happy about what happened he wouldn't be particularly inclined to believe anything he said so he allowed the shop elf to speak, "Elder...I can explain." The elder waited for her to catch her breath and continue, "This...man entered my shop" gesturing towards Lloyd, "and...well he suprised me is all. I screamed and the others broke the door to my shop down before throwing him out here and attacking him." She turned to Lloyd and he could see her bright green eyes full of regret, "I didn't mean for that to happen to you...I'm sorry." The young swordsman smiled and nodded his head in acceptable of her apology.

The elder looked Lloyd over and turned to her again and asked, "He did nothing to you to warrant an attack? Nothing at all?" She shook her head and the elder's calm face turned to a look of pure anger directed at his people. "So...you...all of you hear a scream and leap straight to beating him to death without hearing both sides." The crowd now looked ashamed of their hasty actions before the elder looked to the boy, "Boy...what's your name and purpose here?"

Lloyd managed to open his eyes one which was starting to swell shut and look the elder right in the eyes, "My name is Lloyd Irvine and as for why I'm here..." He paused for a minute grimacing in pain while thinking "I'll gladly take the pain of eating Raine's cooking over this any day". When he continued all could hear the barely contained venom in his voice, "As I said before...I'm just here to get some clothes."

Taking the time to consider the actions of his people the village leader responded, "Well Lloyd on behalf of my people I apologize for their hasty actions and would like to make amends for the careless behavior." Hearing this many elves looked at the elder in disbelief and hoping he wasn't going where they thought he was with this. "I would like to extend an invitation to you to stay here until your wounds have healed." Immediately upon the words leaving his mouth several elves groaned before he fixed them with a harsh glare. He turned to Lloyd and continued, "Seeing as how we've caused these injuries we shall heal them...free of any expense on your part. We will provide food, clothes, and anything else you require during your stay here. Is this proposal acceptable to you?"

Lloyd took the time to consider the elf's words and his condition before turning to politely respond, "Yes it is. Thank you sir." The village leader motioned for the other elves to help the boy up and he was taken to the clinic to be treated.

The elven doctor was suprised at his patients extra 'attachments', but quickly covered it up and went to work. Within an hour the young man in front of the doctor was fidgeting clearly tired of all the poking, proding, medicines and oinments to prevent infections, and most certainly bandages. His patient had numerous cuts, bruises and two broken ribs that were no firmly set in place to heal, but other than that nothing serious. The physican was fascinated with the subjects extra arms, but before he could ask anything two elves asked the boy to come with them.

After treatment he was escorted to the village elders hut where a banquet of food had been prepared for him. The host looked to Lloyd and simply stated, "Dig in." Eating in the home of such an influential person Lloyd used all the manners taught to him by Raine and Dirk. During his meal he noticed the old elf had dismissed the guards and kept a stern eye on him.

When he finished the strange visitor thanked his host before the elf informed his young guest, "I'm afraid we have no clothing that can...appropriately accomditate you." He allowed the words to sink in before continuing, "Your extra appendages will require the clothes be tailored specifically for you."

Understanding where the old man was going Lloyd said, "It's ok. Is the tailor here any good with dwarven clothing?" At the elfs' confirmation the youth pulled out his red shirt and asked, "If it's not too much trouble could you have this one expanded to accomidate my arms? Ya see I don't really want everyone to see them. It causes too much trouble."

The elder feeling sympathetic and replied, "I'll have it adjusted so your arms can be hidden under this shirt, you'll have a few extra like it...And I'll have a few extra shirts made so you won't have to hide your arms if you don't want to." The youths' face brightened somewhat knowing the elf in front of him was really trying to help. The young boy looked towards the old elf and thanked him for everything.

-Welgaia-

"How could I do that to him?" was the one thought echoing through the mind of Kratos Auron. In the last few days the seraphim had locked himself in his room and now sat on the floor where he had collapsed. His room now served as a cell for the shattered angel. Since he killed Lloyd all he could think about is how the promising young swordsman looked when the angels' sword tore through the boys' chest and the blood that still stained his clothes.

With his exhanced hearing he heard someone approach his door long before they knocked. "Leave! I'm not in the mood right now." His visitor ignored his warning and overrode the locking mechanisms on the door. He turned to see who was disturbing him to meet a blue-haired half elf. "Hello Yuan. What do you want?" he asked not trying to hide his annoyance.

"Just to talk." a few minutes passed before he spoke, "I...I heard about what happened." The half elfs' tone was filled with sympathy for the tortured soul in front of him. "You have my condolances old friend." Yuan couldn't help but feel that Kratos could not look any more pathetic than he did now. His old friend looked like hell. He obviously hadn't eat, groomed, or attempted to hide his tears. Yuan knew Lloyd's death would be devastating on Kratos after finding out the boy was alive all this time, but to end the teenagers' life with his own hands would be catastrophic to the mercenary.

The human turned angel used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his eyes before he questioned Yuans' presence here. "Why did you come here? Did Yggdrasill send you to fetch his loyal dog?", he spat at the half elf. He knew Yggdrasill wouldn't care about his loss, but it still meant something to him and damn it he wanted time to grieve.

"No. Yggdrasill didn't send, I came on my own. After all you were there for me when 'she' was killed, you gave me someone to talk to when I needed it most. Would it not be appropriate to do the same for you?", Yuan said calmly ignoring his friends' misdirected anger. He really just wanted to offer him a chance to join the Renengades, but knew this could too easily backfire on him right now.

Casting an apologetic look to his friend he responded, "Your right and...thank you Yuan, but it's just too fresh for me right now." The seraphim took a deep breath before continuing, "When I'm ready I'll talk."

Yuan nodded and walked to the door opening it but not steping through. "Call for me when your ready. But knowing this, he like his mother, would not want you to suffer like this. Especially if he had known the truth." With that he left and the door closed leaving Kratos to his own devices.